H 


l!i!!: 


mv 


I      ill        t'^:'-i;    !-'';.' 

I  1    li !  1  hi 


liw,  :M;h;; 


r 


V 


LIBRARY 

UNIVERSITY  OF 
CALI.ORNIA 

SAN  DieGO 


i-qL 


Digitized  by'the  Internet  Archive 

in  2007  with  funding  from 

IVIicrosoft  Corporation 


http://www.archive.org/details/anthologyofrussi01wieniala 


ANTHOLOGY  OF 
RUSSIAN  LITERATURE 


From  the 
Earliest  Period 
to  the  Present 
Time 


BY 

LEO  WIENER 

ASSISTAirr  PROPBSSOR  OP  SLAVIC   LAMQUACBS  AT  HAKTABO  ONIVXISITY 

In  Two  Parts 

8°  with   Photogravure  Frontispieces 

Part  I.— From  the  Tenth  Century  to  the  Close  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century 

Part  II.—  From  the  Close  of  the  Eighteenth  Century  to 
the  Present  Time 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS 
NEW  YORK  LONDON 


Anthology  of  Russian 
Literature 

.Fro«r.  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time 

By 

MIKHAfi^iftflWiCHQIDMONCSOV 

AaiMint  Prt^cMor  of  Slaric  Languages  at  Harvard  UniTgriity 

**  Lording  over  many  tongues,  the  Russian  language 
surpasses  all  the  others  of  Europe  not  only  in  the  breadth 
of  territory  over  which  it  rules,  but  also  in  its  own  extent 
and  wealth.  One  may  find  in  it  the  magnificence  of  the 
Spanish,  the  vivaHi|tyrWOttl^lFr«Pch,  the  force  of  the 
German,  the  tenderness  of  the  Italian,  and,  besides,  the 
wealth  and    the  express?^   brevity  of   the    Greek   and 

th^^MJ-Wle  Te.  u,  the  Cl<j,g^y^^b|„^_ 


G,  P.  Putnam's   Sons 

New    York    and    London 

Tlbe  Itntcltcrboctter  pxcss 
1902 


Anthology  of  Russian 
Literature 

From  the  Earliest  Period  to  the  Present  Time 

By 

Leo  Wiener 

Awstant  Professor  of  Slavic  Languages  at  Harvard  Universitjr 


IN  TWO  PARTS 

• 

From  the  Tenth  Century  to  the  Close  of  the 
Eighteenth  Century 


G.  P.  Putnam's   Sons 

New   York    and    London 

Zbc  IknicIterbocKet  press 
1902 


COPTXJOHT,  1903 
BT 

UBO  WIBNB& 


Published,  Jane,  1903 


Vbc  VmkfcerbodKt  prcM,  lUw  Berl 


TO  MY  FRIEND  AND  COLLEAGUE 

ARCHIBAI^D    GARY    COOLIDGE 

THIS  WORK  IS 

GRATEFULLY  DEDICATED 


PREFACE 

THE  time  is  not  far  off  when  the  Russian  language  vsrill 
occupy  the  same  place  in  the  curriculum  of  Ameri- 
can universities  that  it  now  does  in  those  of  Germany, 
France  and  Sweden.  A  tongue  that  is  spoken  by  more 
than  one  hundred  million  people  and  that  encompasses  one- 
half  of  the  northern  hemisphere  in  itself  invites  the  attention 
of  the  curious  and  the  scholar.  But  the  points  of  contact 
between  the  Anglo-Saxon  and  Slavic  races  are  so  many,  both 
in  politics  and  literature,  that  it  is  a  matter  of  interest,  if  not 
yet  of  necessity,  for  every  cultured  person  of  either  national- 
ity to  become  well  acquainted  with  the  intellectual  and  social 
life  of  the  other.  In  Russia,  the  English  language  is  steadily 
gaining  in  importance,  and  not  only  the  universities,  but  the 
gymnasiums  as  well,  offer  courses  in  English.  In  England 
and  America  there  are  many  signs  of  a  similar  interest  in 
their  Russian  neighbour,  though  at  present  it  expresses  itself 
mainly  in  the  perusal  of  Russian  novels  in  translations  that 
rarely  rise  above  mediocrity.  There  is  also  a  growing  de- 
mand for  a  fuller  treatment  of  Russian  Literature  as  a  whole, 
which  even  Prince  Wolkonsky's  work  cannot  satisfy,  for  the 
reason  that  only  a  small  fraction  of  the  nineteenth-century 
writers,  and  hardly  anjrthing  of  the  preceding  periods,  is 
accessible  to  the  reader  for  verification.  It  is  the  purpose 
of  this  Anthology  to  render  a  concise,  yet  suflficient,  account 
of  Russian  Literature  in  its  totality,  to  give  to  the  English 
reader  who  is  not  acquainted  with  any  other  language  than 
his  own  a  biographical,  critical  and  bibliographical  sketch 
of  every  important  author,  to  offer  representative  extracts  of 
what  there  is  best  in  the  language  in  such  a  manner  as  to 


vi  Preface 

give  a  correct  idea  of  the  evolution  of  Russian  Literature 
from  its  remotest  time.  The  selections  have  been  chosen  so 
as  to  illustrate  certain  important  historical  events,  and  will 
be  found  of  use  also  to  the  historical  student. 

In  the  preparation  of  this  work,  I  have  availed  myself  of 
many  native  sources,  to  which  I  shall  express  my  indebted- 
ness by  a  general  declaration  that  I  have  with  profit  perused 
the  monumental  works  of  Pypin  and  the  authors  on  whom  he 
has  drawn  in  the  preparation  of  his  history  of  Russian  Liter- 
ature. To  give  variety,  I  have  reproduced  such  of  the  exist- 
ing translations  as  are  less  objectionable.  In  my  own  trans- 
lations, for  which  alone  I  am  responsible,  I  have  attempted 
to  render  minutely  the  originals,  with  their  different  styles, 
not  excepting  their  very  imperfections,  such  as  characterise 
particularly  the  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century.  Only 
where  the  diction  is  inexpressibly  crude,  as  in  Pososhk6v's 
writings,  or  the  text  corrupt,  as  in  the  Word  of  Igor' s  Arma- 
ment, have  I  made  slight  deviations  for  the  sake  of  clearness. 

Russian  words  are  transliterated  differently  by  every  trans- 
lator: some  attempt  to  give  English  equivalents,  which,  even 
if  they  were  correctly  chosen  (they  seldom  are),  cannot  pos- 
sibly give  an  idea  of  the  phonetic  values  in  Russian ;  others 
follow  the  simpler  method  of  an  etymological  transliteration 
of  letter  by  letter,  but  needlessly  encumber  the  words  with 
diacritical  marks  and  difficult  consonant  combinations.  The 
method  pursued  here,  though  far  from  ideal,  recommends 
itself  for  its  simplicity.  Where  the  Russian  and  English 
alphabets  are  practically  identical,  the  corresponding  letters 
are  used;  in  the  other  cases,  the  combinations  are  made  with 
A,  for  which  there  is  no  corresponding  sound  in  Russian ;  for 
the  guttural  vowel  y  is  used,  which  does  also  the  duty  of  the 
English^  in  _y«.  There  can  be  no  confusion  between  the 
two,  as  the  guttural  y  before  or  after  a  vowel  is  extremely 
rare.  It  is  useless  for  anyone  without  oral  instruction  to  try 
to  pronounce  Russian  words  as  the  natives  do.  The  nearest 
approach  will  be  attained  if  the  consonants  be  pronounced 
as  in  English  (jf  always  hard,  zh  as  z  in  azure,  r  always 
rolled,  kh^  guttural  like  German  ch  in  ach)^  and  the  vowels 


Preface  vii 

always  open  as  in  Italian  (a  as  a  in/ar,  <?  as  ^  in  se^,  ^  as  ^  in 
obey,  or  a  little  longer  when  accented,  u  as  oo  vafoot,  or  a  little 
longer  when  accented,  y  between  consonants  is  guttural, 
which  it  is  useless  to  attempt  and  had  better  be  pronounced 
like  i:  i.  e.,  like  i  in  machine  or  bit,  according  to  the  accent). 
The  accents  are  indicated  throughout  the  work.  Accented 
^is  frequently  pronounced  as^^,  but  it  would  be  useless  to 
indicate  all  such  cases.  It  has  not  been  found  practicable 
to  spell  Russian  names  uniformly  when  their  English  forms 
are  universally  accepted. 

It  will  not  be  uninteresting  to  summarise  all  that  English- 
men and  Americans  have  done  to  acquaint  their  countrymen 
with  the  language  and  literature  of  Russia. 

When  Russia  was  rediscovered  by  England  in  the  middle 
of  the  sixteenth  century  and  the  Muscovy  Company  estab- 
lished itself  at  Moscow,  there  was  naturally  a  demand  for 
Englishmen  who  could  speak  Russian.  There  are  frequent 
references  in  native  reports  to  Englishmen  who  spoke  and 
wrote  Russian  fluently  and  who  were  even  used  as  ambas- 
sadors to  the  Muscovite  Tsars,  It  was  also  an  Englishman, 
Richard  James,  who,  in  1619,  made  the  "first  collection  of 
Russian  popular  songs.  In  1696,  the  first  Russian  grammar 
was  published  by  the  Oxford  University  Press,  though  its 
author,  Ludolf,  was  not  an  Englishman  by  birth.  In  the 
eighteenth  century,  there  seems  to  have  been  in  England  no 
interest  in  Russia  except  as  to  its  religion,  which  received 
consideration  from  certain  divines.  An  exception  must  be 
made  in  the  case  of  W.  Coxe,  who  in  his  Travels  in  Poland, 
Russia,  Sweden  and  Denmark,  ist  edition,  I^ondon,  1784,  gave 
an  excellent  account  of  Russian  Literature  from  German  and 
French  sources.  In  1821,  Sir  John  Bowring  startled  his 
countrymen  with  his  Specimens  of  the  Russian  Poets,  which 
for  the  first  time  revealed  to  them  the  existence  of  a  promis- 
ing literature.  Though  his  knowledge  of  Russian  was  quite 
faulty,  as  his  translations  prove,  yet  he  put  the  poems  into 
such  pleasing  verses  that  they  became  deservedly  popular. 
A  second  edition  followed  the  same  year,  and  a  second  part 
two  years  later. 


viii  Preface 

The  impulse  given  by  Sir  John  Bowring  found  a  ready 
response  in  the  periodic  press  of  that  time.  In  1824  the 
Westminster  Review  brought  out  an  article  on  Politics  and 
Literature  0/ /^usna,which.  gave  a  short  review  of  eighteenth- 
century  literature.  In  1827,  R,  P.  Gillies  gave  a  good  sketch 
of  /Russian  Literature  in  vol.  i  of  the  Foreign  Quarterly  Re- 
view, based  on  the  Russian  work  of  Grech.  The  same  year, 
the  Foreign  Review  brought  out  a  short  account,  and  the 
next  year  an  elaborate  article  on  Russian  Literature  and 
Poetry,  also  after  Grech,  which  for  some  decades  formed  the 
basis  of  all  the  articles  and  chapters  dealing  with  the  same 
subject  in  the  English  language.  The  Foreign  Quarterly 
Review  brought  out  similar  matter  in  vol.  viii,  xxi,  xxiii, 
xxix,  XXX.  But  more  interesting  than  these,  which  are 
nearly  all  fashioned  after  some  Russian  articles,  are  the 
excellent  literary  notes  in  every  number,  that  kept  the 
readers  informed  on  the  latest  productions  that  appeared  in 
Russia.  There  seems  hardly  to  have  been  a  public  for 
these  notes  in  England,  and  indeed  they  get  weaker  with 
the  twenty-fourth  volume,  and  die  of  inanity  in  the  thirtieth. 
This  early  period  of  magazine  articles  is  brought  to  an  end 
hy  Russian  Literary  Biography,  in  vol.  xxxvi  (1841)  of  the 
Westminster  Review. 

The  example  set  by  Sir  John  Bowring  found  several  im- 
itators. We  have  several  anthologies,  generally  grouping 
themselves  around  Pushkin,  for  the  first  half  of  the  century: 
W.  H.  Saunders,  Poetical  Translations  from  the  Russian  Lan- 
guage, London,  1826;  [George  Borrow],  The  Talisman,  with 
Other  Pieces,  St.  Petersburg,  1835;  W.  D.  Lewis,  The  Bak- 
chesarian  Fountain,  and  Other  Poems,  Philadelphia,  1849. 
The  Foreign  Quarterly  Review  brought  out  in  1832  transla- 
tions from  Bdtyushkov,  Pushkin,  and  Ryly^ev,  and  in  Black- 
wood's Edinburgh  Magazine  for  1845  T.  B.  Shaw  gave  some 
excellent  translations  of  Pushkin's  poems.  Other  articles, 
treating  individual  authors,  will  be  mentioned  in  their 
respective  places. 

While  these  meagre  accounts  of  Russian  Literature,  at 
second  hand,  and  the  scanty  anthologies  were  appearing. 


Preface  ix 

there  was  published  in  the  Biblical  Repository  of  Andover, 
Mass.,  in  1834,  the  remarkable  work  by  Talvi,  the  wife  of 
Dr.  Edward  Robinson,  entitled:  Historical  View  of  the  Lan- 
guages  and  Literatures  of  the  Slavic  Nations^  and  this  was 
republished  in  book-form,  and  enlarged,  in  New  York,  in 
1850.  Though  there  existed  some  special  works  by  Slavic 
scholars,  Talvi 's  was  the  first  to  encompass  the  whole  field 
in  a  scholarly  and  yet  popular  manner.  It  is  authoritative 
even  now  in  many  departments  that  have  not  been  over- 
thrown by  later  investigations,  and  it  is  a  matter  of  surprise 
that  none  of  the  later  English  writers  should  have  based 
their  Russian  Literatures  on  this  important  work,  or  should 
have  proceeded  in  the  path  of  Slavic  studies  which  she  had 
so  beautifully  inaugurated.  There  is  no  excuse  for  G. 
Cox's  translation  of  F.  Otto's  History  of  Russian  Literature, 
with  a  Lexicon  of  Russian  Authors,  which  appeared  at  Oxford 
in  1839,  and  adds  a  number  of  its  own  inaccuracies  to  the 
blunders  of  the  German  original.  Nor  is  there  any  notice 
taken  of  Talvi  in  [C.  F.  Henningsen's]  Eastern  Europe  and 
tJu  Emperor  Nicholas,  London,  1846,  which  gives  a  chapter 
on  Russian  Literature,  mainly  on  Pushkin. 

In  the  sixties  W.  R.  MorfiU  began  to  translate  some 
poems  from  the  Russian,  and  towards  the  end  of  that  decade, 
but  especially  in  the  next,  Ralston  published  his  excellent 
studies  on  the  Folksongs  and  Folktales  and  Kryl6v,  and  in 
the  Contemporary  Review,  vols,  xxiii  and  xxvii,  two  articles 
on  the  Russian  Idylls.  The  magazines  that  in"  the  seventies 
reviewed  Russian  Literature  got  everything  at  second  hand, 
and  are  of  little  value:  National  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  xxiv 
(1872);  Catholic  World,  vol.  xxi  (1875);  Harper's  Magazine, 
1878.  Of  books  there  were  issued:  Sutherland  Edwards's 
The  Russians  at  Home,  London,  1861,  a  very  useful  work  for 
contemporary  literature,  and  F.  R.  Grahame's  The  Progress 
of  Science,  Art  and  Literature  in  Russia,  London  [1865], 
which  contains  a  great  deal  of  interesting  material  badly 
arranged  and  ill-digested.  The  chapter  on  Literature  in  O. 
W.  Wahl's  The  Land  of  the  Czar,  London,  1875,  is  unim- 
portant. 


X  Preface 

Since  the  eighties  there  have  appeared  a  number  of 
translations  from  good  foreign  authors  bearing  on  Russian 
Literature:  Ernest  Dupuy,  The  Great  Masters  of  Russian 
Literature  in  the  Nineteenth  Century,  translated  by  N.  H. 
Dole,  New  York  [1886];  E.  M.  de  Vogii6,  The  Russian 
Novelists,  translated  by  J.  I,.  Edmands,  Boston  [1887];  Dr. 
George  Brandes,  Impressions  of  Russia,  translated  by  S.  C. 
Eastman,  New  York,  1889;  E.  P.  Bazdn,  Russia:  Its  People 
and  its  Literature,  translated  by  F.  H.  Gardiner,  Chicago, 
1890. 

The  following  more  or  less  original  works  will  be  found 
useful:  W.  R.  Morfill,  Slavonic  Literature,  London,  1883, 
and  The  Story  of  Russia,  New  York  and  London,  1890;  also 
his  The  Peasant  Poets  of  Russia  (Reprint  from  Westminster 
Review),  London,  1880;  C.  E.  Turner,  Studies  in  Russian 
Literature,  London,  1882,  and  before,  in  Fraser's  Magazine 
for  1877;  Ivan  Panin,  Lectures  in  Russian  Literature,  New 
York  and  London,  1889:  Memorials  of  a  Short  Life:  A 
Biographical  Sketch  of  W.  F.  A.  Gaussen  (chapter  on  The 
Russian  People  and  their  Literature),  London,  1895;  Prince 
Serge  Wolkonsky,  IHctures  of  Russian  History  ajid  Russian 
Literature  (Lowell  Lectures),  Boston,  New  York  and  Lon- 
don, 1897;  K.  Waliszewski,  A  History  of  Russian  Literature, 
New  York,  1900,  but  this  work  must  be  used  with  extreme 
caution,  on  account  of  the  many  inaccuracies  it  contains. 
W.  M.  Griswold's  Tales  Dealing  with  Life  in  Russia,  Cam- 
bridge, 1892,  is  a  fair  bibliography  of  all  the  prose  translations 
that  have  appeared  in  the  English  language  before  1892. 
But  few  anthologies  have  of  late  seen  daylight:  C.  T.  Wil- 
son, Russian  Lyrics  in  English  Verse,  London,  1887;  John 
Pollen,  Rhymes  from  the  Russian,  London,  1891  (a  good 
little  book);  E.  L.  Voynich,  The  Humour  of  Russia,  London 
and  New  York,  1895.  The  periodical  "  Free  Russia,"  pub- 
lished in  London  since  1890,  contains  some  good  translations 
from  various  writers  and  occasionally  some  literary  essay ; 
but  the  most  useful  periodic  publication  is  "The  Anglo- 
Russian  Literary  Society,"  published  in  London  since  1892, 
and  containing  valuable  information  on  literary  subjects, 


Preface  xi 

especially  modem,  and  a  series  of  good  translations  from 
contemporary  poets.  Nor  must  one  overlook  the  articles  in 
the  encyclopedias,  of  which  those  in  Johnson's  Cyclopedia 
are  especially  good. 

Very  exhaustive  statements  of  the  modern  literary  move- 
ment in  Russia  appear  from  year  to  year  in  the  Athenaeum. 
More  or  less  good  articles  on  modern  literature,  mainly  the 
novel,  have  appeared  since  1880  in  the  following  volumes  of 
the  periodical  press:  Academy,  xxi  and  xxiii;  Bookman, 
viii;  Chautauquan,  viii  and  xxii;  Critic,  iii;  Current  Liter- 
ature, xxii;  Dial,  xx;  Eclectic  Magazine,  cxv;  Forum, 
xxviii;  Leisure  Hours,  ccccxxv;  Lippincott's,  Iviii;  Liter- 
ature, i;  Living  Age,  clxxxv ;  Nation,  Ixv;  Public  Opinion, 
XX ;  Publisher's  Weekly,  liv;  Temple  Bar,  Ixxxix. 

In  conclusion,  I  desire  to  express  my  gratitude  to  my 
friends  and  colleagues  who  have  aided  me  in  this  work:  to 
Prof.  A.  C.  Coolidge,  for  leaving  at  my  disposal  his  collec- 
tion of  translations  from  the  Russian,  and  for  many  valuable 
hints;  to  Dr.  F.  N.  Robinson,  for  reading  a  number  of  my 
translations;  to  Prof.  G.  L-  Kittredge,  to  whom  is  largely 
due  whatever  literary  merit  there  may  be  in  the  introduc- 
tory chapters  and  in  the  biographical  sketches.  I  also  take 
this  occasion  to  thank  all  the  publishers  and  authors  from 
whose  copyrighted  works  extracts  have  been  quoted  with 
their  permission. 


CONTENTS 

PAGE 

Preface        v 

A  Sketch  of  Russian  IvITEratxjre i 

I.  The  Oldest  Period 3 

II.  The  Folklore 18 

III.  The  Eighteenth  Century .26 

The  Oldest  Period 39 

Treaty  with  the  Greeks  (911) 41 

Lukd  Zhidydta  (XI.  c.) 44 

Instruction  to  his  Congregation 44 

The  Russian  Code  (XI.  c.) 45 

Haridn,  Metropolitan  of  Kiev  (XI.  c.)     .        .        .         .        .48 

Eulogy  on  St.  Vladimir 48 

Vladimir  Monomdkh  (1053-1125) 50 

His  Instruction  to  his  Children 51 

Abbot  Daniel,  the  Palmer  (XII.  c). 56 

Of  the  Holy  Light,  how  it  Descends  from  Heaven  upon 

the  Holy  Sepulchre 56 

Epilogue .        .         .61 

Cyril,  Bishop  of  Tfirov  (XII.  c.) 62 

From  a  Sermon  on  the  First  Sunday  after  Easter  .        .  62 

Nestor's  Chronicle  (XII.  c.) 65 

The  Baptism  of  Vladimir  and  of  all  Russia     ...  65 

The  Kiev  Chronicle  (XII.  c.) 71 

The   Expedition    of   Igor    Svyatosldvich    against    the 

Pdlovtses 72 

The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament  (XII.  c.)        ....  80 
The  Holy  Virgin's  Descent  into  Hell  (XII.  c.)      .         .         .96 

Daniel  the  Prisoner  (XIII.  c.) 100 

I/etter  to  Prince  Yarosldv  Vs^volodovich        .        .        .  loi 

Serapi6n,  Bishop  of  Vladimir  (XIII.  c.)         ....  104 

A  Sermon  on  Omens 104 

The  Zad6nshchina  (XIV.  c.) 106 

xiii 


xiv  Contents 

TA.OM 

Afanfisi  Nikltin  (XV.  c.) in 

Travel  to  India in 

Apocryphal  Legends  about  King  Solomon  (XV.  c.)       .        .114 

The  Story  of  KitovrAs 114 

Prince  Kdrbski  (1528-1583) 115 

The  Storming  of  Kazdn 116 

Letter  to  Ivdn  the  Terrible 118 

Ivdn  the  Terrible  (1530-1584) 121 

Letter  to  Prince  Kdrbski 121 

Crhe  Domostr6y  (XVI.  c.) 126 

-^-     How  to  Educate  Children  and  Bring  them  up  in  the 

Fear  of  God 126 

"     How  to  Teach  Children  and  Save  them  through  Fear    .  127 
How  Christians  are  to  Cure  Diseases  and  all  Kinds  of 

Ailments 128 

The  Wife  is  always  and  in  all  Things  to  Take  Counsel 

with  her  Husband 128 

How  to  Instruct  Servants 129 

«  Songs  Collected  by  Richard  James  (1619-1620)      .        .        .  130 

Incursion  of  the  Crimean  Tartars 131 

The  Song  of  the  Princess  Ks^niya  Borisovna         .        .  132 

The  Return  of  Patriarch  Filar^t  to  Moscow    .        .        .  133 

Krizhdnich  (1617-1677) 134 

Political  Reasons  for  the  Union  of  the  Churches    .  135 

On  Knowledge 136 

On  Foreigners 136 

Kotoshikhin  (1630-1667) 136 

The  Education  of  the  Princes 137 

The  Private  Life  of  the  Boydrs  and  of  other  Ranks        .  139 

Sime6n  P61otski  (1629-1680) 149 

On  the  Birth  of  Peter  the  Great 150 

An  Evil  Thought 151 

The  Magnet 151 

The  Story  of  Misery  Luckless-Plight  (XVH.  or  XVIII.  c)  .  152 

The  Foi,klokb 161 

Epic  Songs 163 

Volkh  Vsesldvevich .163 

Ilyd  of  Mfarom  and  Nightingale  the  Robber    .        .        .  165 

Historical  Songs 172 

Ermdk 172 

The  Boydr's  Execution 174 

The  Storming  of  Azov      . 176 

Folksongs 177 

Kolyddka 178 


Contents  xv 

FAGB 

Bowl-Song 179 

A  Parting  Scene 179 

The  Dove 180 

The  Faithless  I^over  . 182 

Elegy 182 

The  Farewell 183 

Sing,  O  sing  again,  lovely  lark  of  mine  ....  184 

Wedding  Gear 185 

The  Sale  of  the  Braid 185 

Marriage  Song 186 

Beggars'  Song 186 

An  Orphan's  Wailing 187 

Conjuration  of  a  Mother 188 

Fairy  Tales 189 

Frost 190 

The  Cat,  the  Goat  and  the  Ram 195 

The  Fox  and  the  Peasant 198 

Proverbs 199 

The  Eighteenth  Century 203 

Pososhk6v  (1670-1726) 205 

On  Merchants 205 

On  the  Peasantry       .      , 209 

Prokop6vich  (1681-1763)          .        .        .        .        .        .        .  211 

The  Spiritual  Reglement 212 

Funeral  Sermon  on  Peter  the  Great        ....  214 

Tatishchev  (1686-1750) 218 

From  the  "  Russian  History "  .        .....  219 

Kantemlr  (1708-1744) 223 

To  my  Mind 224 

Tredyak6vski  (1703-1769) 230 

Ode  on  the  Surrender  of  Dantzig 230 

Princess  Dolgor6ki  (1714-1771)       ..'....  233 

From  her  "  Memoirs  " 234 

I/)mon6sov  (1711-1765) .         .241 

Letters  to  I.  I.  Shuvdlov 242 

Ode  on  the  Capture  of  Khotin          .        .        .        .        .  246 

Morning  Meditations 252 

Evening  Meditations 253 

Sumar6kov  (1718-1777) 254 

The  False  Demetrius 255 

Instruction  to  a  Son 257 

To  the  Corrupters  of  Language 260 

The  Helpful  Gnat 260 

Four  Answers 261 


xvi  Contents 

TAttm 

Vasfli  MSykov  (1728-1778) 263 

The  Battle  of  the  Zimog6rans  and  Vald&jans          .        .  263 

The  Cook  and  the  Tailor 267 

Daoflov  (1722-1790) 269 

From  his  "Memoirs" 269 

Catherine  the  Great  (1729-1796) 272 

O  Tempera 272 

Prince  Khlor 276 

Shcherbdtov  (1733-1790) 287 

On  the  Corruption  of  Manners  in  Russia                  .        .  287 

Petr6v  (1736-1799) 291 

On  the  Victory  of  the  Russian  oyer  the  Turkish  Fleet  .  291 

Kherdskoy  (i  733-1807) 298 

The  Rossiad 298 

Metropolitan  Plat6n  (1737-1812) 300 

What  are  Idolaters  ? 300 

Address  upon  the  Accession  of  Alexander  I.   .        .        .  304 

Kh^mnitser  (1745-1784) 306 

The  Lion's  Council  of  State 306 

The  Metaphysician 307 

Knyazhnin  (1742-1791) 308 

Vadim  of  N6vgorod 309 

Odd  People 311 

Princess  Ddshkov  (1743-1810) 316 

The  Establishment  of  a  Russian  Academy      .        .        .316 

Poroshfn  (1741-1769) 321 

From  his  "Diary" 321 

The  Satirical  Journals  (1769-1774),  and  N6vikov  (1744-1818).  326 

From  All  Kinds  of  Things 328 

Sound  Reasoning  Adorns  a  Man       ....  329 

From  the  Drone 332 

Recipe  for  His  Excellency  Mr.  Lacksense       .        .  332 

The  Laughing  Democritos 333 

From  HelVs  Post 335 

From  the  Painter 337 

Fon-Vizin  (1744-1792) 341 

The  Minor 342 

An  Open-Hearted  Confession 351 

Letters  to  Count  Pdnin 355 

Kostr6v  (1750-1796) 358 

Letter  to  the  Creator  of  the  Ode  in  Praise  of  Felltsa      .  359 

Radishchev  (1749-1802)    . 361 

Journey  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow  ....  362 

Ablesimov  (1742- 1783) 370 

The  Miller 370 


Contents  xvii 


PAGB 


Bogdan6vicli  (1743-1803) 374 

Psyche.     From  Book  1 374 

"        "    II.    .         ...        .        .        .  375 

Derzhdvin  (1743-1816) 377 

Ode  to  the  Deity 379 

Monody  on  Prince  Meshch^rski 382 

Felitsa 385 

The  Waterfall 390 

The  Storm 391 

The  Stream  of  Time 392 

Neledinski-Meldtski  (1752-1829) 392 

To  the  Streamlet  I  '11  Repair 392 

He  whose  Soul  from  Sorrow  Dreary        ....  394 

Muravdv  (i 757-1807) 395 

To  the  Goddess  of  the  Neyd 395 

Kapnist  (1757-1824) 397 

The  Pettifoggery 398 

Obtikhovka 402 

On  Julia's  Death 404 

Grib6vski  (1766-1833) 405 

From  his  "  Memoirs  " 405 

Kdmenev  (1772-1803) 411 

Gromvdl 412 

Ozerov  (1770-1816) 418 

Dimitri  Donsk6y 419 

Prince  Dolgordki  (i  764-1 823) 422 

The  Legacy 422 

My  Moscow  Fireplace 425 

Dmitriev  (1760-1837) 428 

The  Little  Dove 429 

During  a  Thunder-Storm 430 

Ermdk 431 

What  Others  Say 436 

Index        . .  441 


A  SKETCH  OF  RUSSIAN  IvITERATURE 


A  SKETCH  OF  RUSSIAN  LITERATURE 

I. — THn  OLDEST  PERIOD 

OF  the  many  Slavic  nations  and  tribes  that  at  one  time 
occupied  the  east  of  Europe  from  the  Elbe  and  the 
headwaters  of  the  Danube  to  Siberia,  and  from  the  Ionic  Sea 
to  the  Baltic  and  White  Seas,  some  have  entirely  disappeared 
in  the  ruthless  struggle  with  a  superior  German  civilisation; 
others,  like  the  Bulgarians  and  Servians,  have  paled  into 
insignificance  under  the  lethargic  influence  of  the  Crescent, 
to  be  fanned  to  life  again  within  the  memory  of  the  present 
generation  by  a  breath  of  national  consciousness,  which  is 
the  result  of  the  Romantic  Movement  in  European  literature ; 
others  again  like  the  Bohemians  and  Poles,  rent  asunder  by 
fraternal  discord  and  anarchy,  have  forfeited  their  national 
existence  and  are  engaged  in  an  unequal  battle  to  regain  it. 
Of  all  the  Slavs,  Russia  alone  has  steadily  gathered  in  the 
lands  of  the  feudal  lords,  to  shine  at  last  as  a  power  of  the 
first  magnitude  among  the  sisterhood  of  states,  and  to  scin- 
tillate hope  to  its  racial  brothers  as  the  * '  Northern  Star. ' ' 

The  unity  of  the  Russian  land  was  ever  present  to  the 
minds  of  the  writers  in  the  earliest  days  of  the  appanages. 
The  bard  of  the  Word  of  Igor's  Armament  and  Daniel  the 
Palmer  made  appeals  to  the  whole  country  and  prayed  for 
all  the  princes  in  the  twelfth  century,  and  for  upwards  of 
four  centuries  Moscow  has  been  the  centre  towards  which 
the  outlying  districts  have  been  gravitating.  Yet,  in  spite 
of  so  continuous  and  well-defined  a  political  tendency,  Rus- 
sia is  the  last  of  the  Slavic  nations  to  have  evolved  a  liter- 
ature worthy  of  the  name.     Bohemia  had  a  brilhant  literature 

3 


4  A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

of  the  Western  stamp  as  early  as  the  thirteenth  century; 
Bulgaria  had  made  a  splendid  start  three  centuries  before, 
under  the  impulse  of  the  newly  introduced  religion;  the 
Servian  city  of  Ragusa,  receiving  its  intellectual  leaven  from 
its  Italian  vicinage,  invested  Petrarch  and  Dante  with  Serv- 
ian citizenship  in  the  fifteenth  century,  and,  shortly  after, 
gloried  in  an  epic  of  a  Gundulic,  and  in  a  whole  galaxy  of 
writers;  Poland  borrowed  its  theology  from  Bohemia,  took 
an  active  part  in  the  medieval  Latin  literature,  and  boasted 
a  golden  age  for  its  native  language  in  the  sixteenth  century. 
Russia  produced  an  accessible  literature  only  in  the  second 
half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  became  known  to  Western 
Europe  not  earlier  than  the  second  quarter  of  the  next,  and 
had  not  gained  universal  recognition  until  within  the  last 
twenty-five  years. 

In  the  case  of  the  Western  and  Southern  Slavs,  a  com- 
munity of  interests,  whether  religious  or  social,  has  led  to  an 
intellectual  intercourse  with  their  neighbours,  from  whom 
they  have  received  their  models  for  imitation  or  adaptation. 
Without  a  favourable  geographical  position,  or  some  com- 
mon bond  with  the  external  world,  no  nation  can  have  a 
healthy  development,  especially  in  the  incipient  stage  of  its 
political  existence.  Blatant  Slavophiles  of  fifty  years  ago 
heaped  reproach  on  the  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great,  on  the 
ground  that  they  were  fashioned  upon  Western  ideals,  and 
that  he  had  retarded  the  evolution  of  Russia  according  to 
its  inherent  Slavic  idea.  There  still  survive  men  of  that 
persuasion,  though  a  comparative  study  of  Russian  literature 
long  ago  demonstrated  that  every  step  in  advance  has  been 
made  by  conscious  or  unconscious  borrowings  from  abroad. 
If  there  was  a  Russian  literature  previous  to  the  introduction 
of  Christianity,  it  certainly  stood  in  some  kind  of  relation  to 
the  literatures  of  the  neighbours.  The  few  extant  treaties 
with  the  Greeks  for  that  period  show  unmistakable  Byzant- 
ine influences,  and  the  Russian  Code  of  Yarosldv,  with  its 
purely  Norse  laws,  dates  from  a  time  when  the  Varydgs  had 
not  yet  disappeared  in  the  mass  of  the  Slavic  majority. 

With  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  Russia,  instead  of 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature  5 

entering  into  closer  communion  with  the  rest  of  the  world, 
was  separated  from  it  even  more  securely  than  before,  and 
soon  after,  an  intellectual  stagnation  began  that  lasted  very 
nearly  to  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century.  Various 
causes  combined  to  produce  this  singular  effect.  Chief  of 
these  was  its  geographical  position.  Living  in  the  vast 
eastern  plain  of  Europe,  which  in  itself  would  have  been 
productive  of  a  larger  life,  the  Russian  tribes  had  civilised 
neighbours  on  one  side  only.  On  the  north  they  were 
separated  from  the  Swedes  by  rude  Finnish  tribes;  on  the 
south,  they  had  for  centuries  to  contend  against  all  the 
nomads,  Pechenyegs,  Cumanians,  Khazars,  who  slowly  pro- 
ceeded from  Asia  to  central  Europe  to  become  lost  in  the 
nations  to  the  south  of  the  Carpathians  and  in  the  Balkan 
peninsula;  in  the  east  the  Finns  of  the  north  met  the  Tar- 
tars of  the  south,  and  behind  them  lay  unprofitable  Asia. 
On  the  north-west,  it  is  true,  was  the  civilised  Teutonic 
Order,  but  the  inveterate  hatred  between  these  Germans 
and  the  Slavs  prevented  any  intercommunication  from  that 
quarter.  There  was  left  Poland,  through  which  Russia 
might  issue  into  Europe;  but  savage  Lithuania  was  wedged 
in  between  the  two,  so  as  to  reduce  still  more  the  line  of 
contact  with  the  West.  When  Lithuania  became  civilised, 
and  a  part  of  Poland,  the  latter  had  grown  suspicious  of  the 
youthful  Ilyd  of  Mtirom  who  **  had  sat  thirty  years  upon 
the  oven,"  and  enunciated  a  political  maxim  that  either 
Russia  would  have  to  become  Polish,  or  else  Poland  Rus- 
sian. Knowing  that  there  was  no  other  exit  for  Russia, 
Poland  permitted  no  light  to  reach  it  from  the  West.  When 
England  began  to  communicate  with  Russia  in  the  sixteenth 
century,  King  Sigismund  made  an  earnest  appeal  to  Queen 
Elizabeth  to  stop  sending  skilled  mechanics,  lest  the  Colossus 
should  awaken  and  become  a  danger  to  Europe. 

These  external  causes  of  Russia's  aloofness  were  still  more 
intensified  by  a  systematic  determination  of  Russia  to  keep 
out  the  Catholic  contamination  that  would  come  from  inter- 
course with  Europe.  This  was  a  direct  outgrowth  of  its 
adoption  of  Christianity  from  Byzantium,  instead  of  Rome. 


6  A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

Cyril  and  Methodius,  the  apostles  to  the  Slavs,  were  them- 
selves Bulgarians  from  Macedonia.  When  they  first  carried 
the  new  religion  to  Moravia  and  later  to  Bulgaria,  they,  no 
doubt,  preached  and  wrote  in  the  dialect  with  which  they 
were  most  familiar.  This  innovation  of  preaching  the  gospel 
in  another  than  one  of  the  three  sacred  languages  was  a 
necessary  departure,  in  order  to  win  over  the  troublesome 
Slavs  to  the  north  of  Byzantium.  Though  at  the  end  of  the 
ninth  century  the  various  dialects  were  already  sufi5ciently 
dissimilar  to  constitute  separate  languages,  yet  they  were 
not  so  distant  from  each  other  as  to  be  a  hindrance  to  a  free 
intercommunication.  When,  a  century  later,  Christianity 
was  introduced  into  Russia  from  Constantinople,  Bulgarian 
priests  and  bookmen  were  the  natural  intermediaries,  and 
the  Bulgarian  language  at  once  became  the  literary  medium, 
to  the  exclusion  of  the  native  tongue.  Soon  after,  the 
Eastern  Church  separated  from  Rome,  and  the  Greek- 
Catholic  clergy  inculcated  upon  their  neophytes  an  undying 
hatred  of  the  lyatins,  as  the  Romanists  were  called.  In 
Moscow,  the  slightest  deviation  from  the  orthodox  faith 
was  suflBcient  cause  for  suspecting  a  Romanist  heresy,  and 
anathemas  against  Roman-Catholics  were  frequent,  but  at 
Kiev,  where  the  contact  with  Poland  was  inevitable,  the 
disputes  with  the  Latins  form  a  prominent  part  of  ecclesiasti- 
cal literature.  To  guard  the  country  against  any  possible 
contagion,  the  punishment  of  Russians  who  crossed  the  bor- 
der, in  order  to  visit  foreign  parts,  was  so  severe,  that  few 
ever  ventured  out  of  the  country.  The  seclusion  of  Russia 
was  complete. 

Even  under  these  difficulties,  literature  and  the  arts  might 
have  flourished,  if  Constantinople  had  been  able  to  give  to 
the  new  converts  even  its  degraded  Byzantine  culture,  or  if 
there  had  not  been  other  powerful  causes  that  militated 
against  a  development  from  within.  In  the  west  of  Europe 
the  Latin  language  of  the  Church  did  not  interfere  with 
an  early  national  literature.  Latin  was  the  language  of 
the  learned,  whether  clerical  or  lay,  and  mediated  an  intel- 
lectual intercourse  between  the  most  distant  members  of  the 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature  7 

universal  faith.  At  the  same  time,  the  native  dialects  had 
received  an  impulse  before  the  introduction  of  Christianity, 
often  under  the  influence  of  Rome,  and  they  were  left  to 
shift  for  themselves  and  to  find  their  votaries.  The  case 
was  quite  different  in  Russia.  The  Bulgarian  language, 
which  was  brought  in  with  the  gospel,  at  once  usurped  on 
the  native  Russian  to  the  great  disadvantage  of  the  latter. 
Being  closely  related  to  the  spoken  Russian,  Bulgarian  was 
easily  acquired  by  the  clergy,  but  it  was  not  close  enough  to 
become  the  literary  language  of  the  people.  On  the  one 
hand,  this  new  gospel  language  could  at  best  connect  Russia 
with  Byzantium  by  way  of  Bulgaria;  on  the  other,  Russian 
was  looked  down  upon  as  a  rude  dialect  and  was  discouraged, 
together  with  every  symptom  of  the  popular  creation  which 
was  looked  upon  as  intimately  connected  with  ancient 
paganism. 

This  Bulgarian  language  was  not  long  preserved  in  its 
purity.  Detached  from  its  native  home,  it  was  immediately 
transformed  in  pronunciation,  so  as  to  conform  to  the  spoken 
Russian ;  thus,  for  example,  it  at  once  lost  its  nasals,  which 
were  not  familiar  to  the  Russian  ear.  In  the  course  of  time, 
words  and  constructions  of  the  people's  language  found  their 
way  into  the  Church-Slavic,  as  the  Bulgarian  was  then  more 
properly  called.  Naturally,  many  words,  referring  to  ab- 
stract ideas  and  the  Church,  passed  from  the  Bulgarian  into 
the  spoken  tongue.  Thus,  the  two  dialects,  one  the  arbitrary 
literary  language,  the  other,  the  language  of  every-day  life, 
approached  each  other  more  and  more.  At  the  present  time, 
the  Russian  of  literature  contains  a  large  proportion  of  these 
Church-Slavic  words  ;  the  language  of  the  Bible  and  the 
liturgy  is  the  Church-Slavic  of  the  sixteenth  century,  which 
differs  so  much  from  the  original  Bulgarian  that,  though  a 
Russian  reads  with  comparative  ease  this  Church-Slavic,  he 
has  to  study  Bulgarian  as  a  German  would  study  Old  Ger- 
man. This  Church-Slavic  of  the  Russian  redaction  has  also 
been,  and  still  is,  in  part,  the  ecclesiastical  language  of  the 
other  Greek-Catholic  countries  of  the  Slavs. 

Some  time  passed  before  Russia  could  furnish  its  own 


8  A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

clergy.  All  the  leading  places  in  the  Church  were  at  first 
filled  with  Bulgarians  and  Greeks  who  were  steeped  in 
Byzantine  religious  lore.  The  Church  at  Constantinople 
stood  in  direct  opposition  to  the  classical  traditions  of 
Greece.  These  were  not  separated  from  the  old  heathenism, 
and  to  the  luxury  and  voluptuousness  of  medieval  Greece, 
which  was  ascribed  to  classical  influences,  the  Church 
opposed  asceticism  and  self-abnegation.  Monasticism  was 
preached  as  the  ideal  of  the  religious  life,  and  arts  and 
sciences  had  no  place  in  the  scheme  of  the  Church.  Theo- 
logy and  rhetoric  were  the  only  sciences  which  the  hermit 
practised  in  his  cell,  in  the  moments  that  were  free  from 
prayer  and  self-castigation.  And  it  is  only  the  Church's 
sciences  that  ancient  Russia  inherited  from  Byzantium. 
The  civil  intercourse  between  the  two  countries  was  very 
slight,  and  the  few  Russian  ecclesiastics  who  visited  Mount 
Athos  and  the  Holy  Land  brought  back  with  them  at  best  a 
few  legends  and  apocryphal  writings.  The  Byzantine  influ- 
ence at  home  showed  itself  in  a  verbal  adherence  to  the  Bible 
and  the  Church  Fathers,  and  an  occasional  attempt  at  pulpit 
oratory  in  the  bombastic  diction  of  contemporary  Greece. 

Not  a  science  penetrated  into  ancient  Russia.  Historically 
the  rest  of  the  world  did  not  exist  for  it,  and  geographically 
it  was  only  of  interest  in  so  far  as  it  came  into  contact  with 
Russia:  Russia  knew  more  of  Tartars  and  Cumanians  than 
of  Germany  or  France.  Arithmetic,  not  to  speak  of  mathe- 
matics, and  physics,  medicine  and  engineering,  were  un- 
known before  the  sixteenth  century,  and  then  only  when  a 
few  foreigners  practised  these  arts  in  the  capital  and  at  the 
Court.  The  only  literature  that  reached  Russia  was  the 
legendary  lore  of  the  South  and  West,  through  Bulgaria  and 
Poland,  generally  at  a  time  when  it  had  long  been  forgotten 
elsewhere  :  thus,  the  Lucidarius  and  Physiologus  were  ac- 
cepted as  genuine  bits  of  zoological  and  botanical  science, 
long  after  sober  knowledge  had  taken  possession  of  the  uni- 
versities of  the  world.  The  literature  of  Russia  before  Peter 
the  Great  is  by  no  means  meagre  or  uninteresting,  but  it 
lacks  an  important  element  of  historical  continuity ;  in  fact, 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature  9 

it  is  devoid  of  every  trace  of  chronology.  What  was  written 
in  the  twelfth  century  might  with  equal  propriety  be  the 
product  of  the  sixteenth,  and  vice  versa,  and  the  productions 
of  the  earliest  time  were  copied  out  as  late  as  the  seventeenth 
century,  and  relished  as  if  they  had  just  been  written. 
Where  a  certain  literary  document  has  come  down  to  us  in 
a  later  copy,  it  is  not  possible  to  date  it  back,  unless  it  con- 
tains some  accidental  indication  of  antiquity.  In  short, 
there  was  no  progress  in  Russia  for  a  period  of  six  or  seven 
centuries,  from  the  tenth  century  to  the  seventeenth. 

In  this  achronism  of  literary  history,  there  may,  however, 
be  discerned  two  periods  that  are  separated  from  each  other 
by  the  first  invasion  of  the  Tartars.  Previous  to  that  mo- 
mentous event,  Kiev  formed  the  chief  intellectual  and  politi- 
cal centre  of  the  Russian  principalities.  Here  the  Norse 
traditions,  which  had  been  brought  by  the  Varydg  warriors, 
had  not  entirely  faded  away  in  the  century  following  the 
introduction  of  Christianity,  and  the  Court  maintained  cert- 
ain relations  with  the  rest  of  the  world,  as  in  the  case  of 
Yarosldv,  who  was  related,  by  the  marriage  of  his  children, 
to  the  Courts  of  Norway,  France,  Germany  and  Hungary. 
On  the  other  hand,  Vladimir's  heroes  were  celebrated  abroad, 
and  Ilyi  of  Murom  is  not  unknown  to  German  tradition  and 
the  Northern  saga.  Not  only  its  favourable  geographical 
position,  but  its  climate  as  well,  inspired  the  inhabitants  of 
Kiev  with  a  greater  alacrity,  even  as  the  I^ittle-Russians  of 
to-day  have  developed  less  sombre  characteristics  than  the 
Great-Russians  of  the  sterner  north.  It  is  sufficient  to  com- 
pare the  laconic  instructions  of  lyuka  Zhidydta  in  the  commer- 
cial N6vgorod  with  the  flowery  style  of  Serapi6n's  sermon, 
or  the  dry  narrative  of  the  northern  chronicles  with  the  elab- 
orate adornment  of  the  stories  in  the  chronicles  of  Nestor 
and  Sylvester,  to  become  aware  of  the  fundamental  difference 
between  the  two  sections  of  Russia.  The  twelfth  century, 
rich  in  many  aspects  of  literature,  including  that  beautiful 
prose  poem  of  popular  origin,  the  Word  of  Igor's  Armament, 
gave  ample  promise  of  better  things  to  come.  Similarly,  the 
bylinas  of  the  Vladimir  cycle,  the  best  and  most  numerous 


lo        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

of  all  that  are  preserved,  point  to  an  old  poetic  tradition  that 
proceeded  from  Kiev. 

The  fact  that  these  bylinas  have  been  lately  discovered  in 
the  extreme  north-east,  in  the  Government  of  Ol6netsk, 
while  not  a  trace  of  them  has  been  found  in  their  original 
home,  has  divided  the  scholars  of  Russia  into  two  camps. 
Some  assert  that  all  the  Russians  of  Kiev  belonged  to  the 
Great-Russian  division,  and  that  the  Tartar  invasion  de- 
stroyed most  of  them,  and  caused  the  rest  to  migrate  to  the 
north,  whither  they  carried  their  poetry.  The  Little-Rus- 
sians that  now  occupy  the  south  of  Russia  are  supposed  by 
these  scholars  to  have  come  from  Galicia  to  repeople  the 
abandoned  places.  The  Little- Russians  themselves  claim, 
with  pardonable  pride,  to  be  the  direct  descendants  of  the 
race  that  gave  Russia  its  N6stor  and  the  bard  of  the  Word 
of  Igor's  Armament.  There  are  weighty  arguments  on  both 
sides,  and  both  the  Great-Russians,  with  whom  we  are  at 
present  concerned,  and  the  Little-Russians,  or  Ruthenians, 
who  have  developed  a  literature  in  their  own  dialect,  claim 
that  old  literature  as  their  own. 

The  terrible  affliction  of  the  Mongol  invasion  marks,  on 
the  one  hand,  the  beginning  of  the  concentration  of  Russia 
around  Moscow,  and,  on  the  other,  accentuates  more  strongly 
the  barren  activities  of  the  Russian  mind  for  the  next  few 
centuries.  Historians  have  been  wont  to  dwell  on  the  Tartar 
domination  as  the  chief  cause  of  Russian  stagnation,  but  the 
calmer  judgment  of  unbiassed  science  must  reject  that  ver- 
dict. It  is  true,  the  Tartars  carried  ruin  to  all  the  Russian 
land,  but  after  every  successful  raid,  they  withdrew  to  their 
distant  camps,  ruling  the  conquered  land  merely  by  exacting 
tribute  and  homage  from  its  princes.  The  Tartars  in  no 
way  interfered  with  the  intellectual  and  religious  life  of  the 
people;  on  the  contrary,  they  mingled  freely  with  the  sub- 
ject nation,  and  intermarriages  were  common.  It  has  al- 
ready been  pointed  out  that  the  germ  of  unprogressiveness 
was  older  than  the  invasion,  that  the  Byzantine  religious 
culture  was  the  real  cause  of  it.  That  Moscow  was  even 
less  progressive  than  Kiev  is  only  natural.     All  its  energies 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         1 1 

were  bent  on  political  aggrandisement,  on  throwing  off  the 
hated  Tartar  yoke,  and  it  was  farther  removed  from  Europe 
than  the  more  fortunate  southern  metropolis.  All  these 
conditions  were  unfavourable  to  the  practice  of  the  gentler 
arts. 

The  religious  lore  of  ancient  Russia  was  derived  from  the 
gospel,  which  was  hardly  ever  accessible  in  continuous  form, 
but  only  as  an  aprakos,  i.  e.,  as  a  manual  in  which  it  was 
arranged  according  to  the  weekly  readings.  This  was  sup- 
plemented by  two  peculiar  versions  of  the  Old  Testament, 
the  palceas,  in  which  passages  of  the  Bible  were  intermingled 
with  much  apocryphal  matter,  and  which  originally  had 
served  as  controversial  literature  against  the  Jews,  and  to 
prove  the  coming  of  Christ;  there  was  no  translation  of  the 
whole  Old  Testament,  and  as  late  as  the  eighteenth  century 
a  priest  referred  to  the  palcsa  as  to  Holy  Writ.  Prayers  to 
saints,  lives  and  legends  of  saints,  with  moral  instructions, 
complete  the  list  of  the  religious  equipment  that  Russia  re- 
ceived from  Byzantium.  One  of  the  oldest  Russian  manu- 
scripts, the  Collection  of  Svyatosldv,  made  for  Svyatosldv  of 
Chernigov  in  1073,  is  a  copy  of  a  similar  production,  trans- 
lated from  the  Greek  for  Sime6n  of  Bulgaria.  It  is  an 
encyclopedia  of  ecclesiastic  and  moral  themes,  culled  from 
the  Church  Fathers,  among  whom  John  Chrysostom  is  most 
prominent.  Later,  there  were  many  similar  collections, 
known  under  the  names  of  The  Golden  Beam,  Emerald, 
Golden  Chain,  and  so  forth. 

By  the  aid  of  this  literature  and  such  Greek  models  as 
were  accessible  to  the  priests,  were  produced  the  sermons 
that  have  come  down  to  us  in  a  large  number,  and  a  few  of 
which,  like  those  of  Cyril  of  Turov  and  Serapi6n,  do  not  lack 
literary  polish,  and  are  not  inferior  to  Western  pulpit  oratory 
of  the  same  period.  Whenever  the  preachers  turned  to 
praise  the  princes,  as  in  the  case  of  Ilarion  who  eulogised 
Vladimir,  they  had  in  mind  only  their  orthodox  Christian- 
ity, for  religion  was  the  all-absorbing  question.  Similarly, 
when  Vladimir  Monomdkh  wrote  his  Instruction  to  his  child- 
ren, he  composed  it  according  to  the  model  given  in  Svya- 


12        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

tosldv's  Collection.  Sermons  and  Instructions,  from  the 
introduction  of  Christianity  to  the  middle  of  the  eighteenth 
century,  form  one  of  the  most  important  ingredients  of  Col- 
lections, and  served  as  models  for  Spiritual  Testaments  even 
in  the  eighteenth  century.  Sylvester's  Domostrdy  belongs 
to  the  same  type,  though  what  in  Vladimir  was  the  enthus- 
iasm and  earnestness  of  the  new  faith,  has  in  this  later 
document  become  a  series  of  external  observances.  Formal- 
ism and  adherence  to  the  dead  letter  characterise  the  whole 
period  of  Russian  unprogressiveness,  and  remained  the 
characteristic  of  the  Church  at  a  much  later  time,  in  spite 
of  the  enlightened  labours  of  a  Feofdn  or  Platon;  and  it  was 
the  same  formalism  that  caused  the  schism  of  the  rask61niks, 
who  saw  in  Nik6n's  orthographical  corrections  of  the  cor- 
rupt Bible  text  an  assault  upon  the  orthodox  religion. 

Only  a  small  proportion  of  the  literature  of  ancient  Russia 
was  produced  outside  the  ranks  of  the  clergy.  There  were 
few  literate  persons  who  were  not  priests  or  monks;  for 
there  hardly  existed  any  schools  during  this  whole  period, 
and  even  princes  could  not  sign  their  names.  The  influence 
of  the  lettered  priest  was  paramount,  and  if  he  was  at  all 
equal  to  the  task  of  composing  readable  sermons,  these  were 
eagerly  sought  for  by  all  who  could  read  them.  When,  in 
the  sixteenth,  and  still  more  in  the  seventeenth  century,  raj'S 
of  light  began  to  penetrate  into  Moscow,  the  chief  and  most 
dangerous  task  of  instruction  fell  to  the  share  of  those 
preachers  who  had  come  in  contact  with  Polish  learning  at 
Kiev ;  in  the  days  of  Peter  the  Great,  Feofdn  Prokopovich 
was  an  important  factor  in  the  civilisation  of  Russia,  and  in 
the  beginning  of  the  nineteenth  century  the  sermons  of 
Plat6n  still  form  an  integral  part  of  literature. 

To  the  student  of  comparative  literature  the  semi-religious 
lore,  which  finds  its  expression  in  the  apocrypha,  is  of  vastly 
greater  interest.  The  poetical  creative  activity  of  the  people, 
combining  with  the  knowledge  of  religious  lore,  has  ever 
been  active  in  producing  spurious  legendary  accounts  of 
matters  biblical.  The  book  of  Enoch  and  the  Talmud  dis- 
seminated such  legends  in  regard  to  the  Old  Testament  long 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         13 

before  the  birth  of  Christianity.  The  Russian  apocrj'phal 
literature  is  rich  in  legendary  accounts  of  the  creation  of  the 
world,  the  confession  of  Eve,  the  lives  of  Adam,  Melchisedec, 
Abraham,  I^ot,  Moses,  Balaam,  the  twelve  patriarchs,  David, 
and  particularly  Solomon.  Much  more  extensive  is  the 
store  of  legends  from  the  New  Testament.  The  birth  of 
the  Holy  Virgin  is  dilated  upon  in  the  gospel  of  Jacob,  the 
childhood  of  Christ  is  told  in  the  gospel  of  Thomas,  while  a 
fuller  story  of  Pilate's  judgment  of  Christ  and  of  Christ's 
descent  into  Hell  is  given  in  the  old  gospel  of  Nicodemus. 
Lazarus,  Judas,  and  the  twelve  apostles  have  all  their  group 
of  legends,  but  the  Assumption  of  the  Virgin  Mary  and  the 
Judgment-day  were  the  most  popular.  The  list  is  far  from 
being  exhausted,  and  only  a  small  part  of  the  material  has 
been  scientifically  investigated  and  located.  Most  of  these 
stories  travelled  by  the  customary  road  over  Bulgaria  from 
Byzantium.  As  they  have  also  reached  the  west  of  Europe, 
the  investigator  of  their  Western  forms  has  to  look  into 
Byzantine  sources;  but  as  many  of  the  legends  have  been 
preserved  in  the  Slavic  form,  and  when  they  have  disap- 
peared from  the  Greek,  or  as  fuller  redactions  are  to  be 
met  with  in  the  North,  he  cannot  well  afford  to  overlook 
the  Slavic  sources.  The  index  librorum  prohibitorum  of 
Russia,  fashioned  after  the  Greek,  includes  all  such  apo- 
crypha as  were  current  at  the  time  of  the  composition  of  the 
first  index.  The  clergy  were  continually  preaching  against 
them,  yet  their  efforts  were  useless,  especially  since  they 
themselves  were  at  the  same  time  drawing  extensively  on 
the  apocryphal  accounts  of  ih&pal(zas,  lives  of  saints,  etc. 

There  is  this  vast  difference  in  the  literature  of  this  kind 
as  it  was  current  in  Russia  and  in  the  West.  Elsewhere  the 
legends  were  early  seized  upon  by  the  fancy  of  the  poets, 
were  clothed  in  the  conventional  garb  of  verse,  remodelled, 
combined,  beautified,  until  they  became  the  stock  in  trade  of 
literature,  while  the  memory  of  the  unadorned  story  had 
entirely  faded  from  the  popular  consciousness.  Dante's 
Divine  Comedy  is  an  illustration  of  how  transformed  the 
legends  had  become  at  a  very  early  date.     In  Russia  nothing 


14        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

of  the  kind  has  taken  place.  With  the  usual  achronism  of 
its  literature,  legends  of  the  eleventh  and  eighteenth  cent- 
uries live  side  by  side,  or  mingle  in  the  same  version,  and 
they  have  undergone  no  other  change  than  corruption  of 
misunderstood  passages,  transposition  of  motives,  modern- 
isation of  language.  The  religious  songs  that  a  mendicant 
may  be  heard  singing  at  the  present  time  in  tront  of  a 
church  are  nothing  but  these  old  legends,  almost  in  their 
primitive  form. 

Nearly  allied  to  the  apocryphal  stories  are  the  profane 
legends  that  form  the  subject-matter  of  so  much  of  European 
medieval  literature.  The  stories  of  Alexander  the  Great, 
the  Trojan  War,  Digenis  Akritas,  Barlaam  and  Josaphat, 
Calilah-wa-Dimnah,  are  as  common  in  Russian  literature  as  in 
that  of  France  or  Germany.  Byzantium  is  the  immediate 
source  of  most  of  these  legends  both  for  the  East  and  the 
West,  but  there  are  also  many  motives  in  the  Russian  stories 
that  were  derived  from  the  West  through  Servia  and  Bul- 
garia. It  is  not  yet  quite  clear  how  these  stories  came  to 
travel  in  a  direction  opposite  to  the  customary  route  of  popu- 
lar tales;  no  doubt  the  crusades  did  much  to  bring  about  an 
interchange  of  the  oral  literature  of  the  nations.  In  the 
West,  these  stories  have  furnished  the  most  beautiful  subjects 
for  medieval  poetry,  but  as  before,  the  Russian  stories  have 
not  found  their  waj'  into  polite  literature.  They  have  either 
remained  unchanged  in  their  original  form,  or,  being  of  a 
more  popular  character  than  the  religious  legends,  have 
adapted  themselves  to  the  style  of  folktales,  as  which  they 
have  been  preserved. 

It  is  not  unlikely  that  many  of  these  tales  were  brought 
back  from  Palestine,  the  common  camping-ground  of  the 
Christian  nations  during  the  crusades.  Pilgrimages  to  the 
Holy  Land  began  soon  after  the  introduction  of  Christianity 
into  Russia,  and  in  the  twelfth  century  we  have  the  first  ac- 
count of  such  a  journey,  from  the  pen  of  the  abbot  Daniel. 
None  of  the  later  accounts  of  Palestine  and  Constantinople 
compare  in  interest  with  the  simple  narrative  of  Daniel  the 
Palmer,  after  whose  Pilgrimage  they  are  fashioned  and  whose 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         1 5 

very  words  they  often  incorporated  in  their  Travels.  The 
purpose  of  all  these  was  to  serve  as  incitements  to  religious 
contemplation.  There  is  but  one  account  of  a  journey  to 
the  west  of  Europe.  It  was  undertaken  by  the  metropolitan 
Isidor  who,  in  1437,  attended  the  Council  of  Florence,  A 
few  years  later  Afandsi  Nikftin  described  his  journey  to 
India,  which  was  one  of  the  earliest  undertaken  by  Western- 
ers in  the  same  century;  but  while  Vasco  de  Gama  and 
Columbus  were  revolutionising  the  knowledge  of  geography, 
and  were  making  the  discovery  of  a  route  to  India  the  ob- 
ject of  mercantile  development,  Nikftin's  report,  important 
though  it  was,  had  absolutely  no  effect  upon  dormant  Russia. 
As  there  existed  no  external  geography,  so  there  was  no 
external  history.  But  fortunately  for  Russia,  a  long  series 
of  chronicles  have  saved  historical  events  from  oblivion. 
The  earliest  chronicle,  that  of  Nestor,  was  the  model  for  all 
that  followed.  Excepting  the  history  of  Kurbski,  who  had 
come  into  contact  with  Western  science  through  the  Polish, 
and  Krizhdnich,  who  was  not  a  Russian,  there  was  no  pro- 
gress made  in  the  chronological  arrangement  of  historical 
facts  from  Nestor  to  Tatishchev,  while  in  style  and  dramatic 
diction  there  is  a  decided  retrogression.  The  promise  held 
out  by  the  historian  of  the  twelfth  century  was  not  made 
good  for  six  hundred  years.  Nestor  and  Sylvester,  the  con- 
tinuator,  were  of  the  clerical  profession,  and  naturally  the 
religious  element,  richly  decked  out  with  legend,  folktale 
and  reports  of  eye-witnesses,  is  the  prevailing  tone  through- 
out the  whole  production.  The  Bible  and  the  Byzantines, 
Hamartolos  and  John  Malalas,  serve  as  models  for  the  fluent 
style  of  this  production,  but  the  vivid,  dramatic  narrative 
bears  witness  to  considerable  talent  in  the  author.  At  first 
only  the  cities  of  Kiev,  N6vgorod  and  Suzdal,  and  Volhynia 
seem  to  have  possessed  such  chronicles;  but  those  that  are 
preserved  show  traces  of  being  composed  of  shorter  accounts 
of  other  individual  places.  In  the  following  centuries,  most 
of  the  larger  cities  and  monasteries  kept  chronological 
records  of  important  events,  and  with  the  centralisation  of 
Russia  about  Moscow  there  also  appeared  a  species  of  Court 


i6        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

chroniclers  whose  dry  narration  is  often  coloured  in  favour 
of  the  tsarate. 

All  this  mass  of  literature  is  essentially  ecclesiastic,  and 
hardly  any  other  could  raise  its  head  against  the  constant 
anathemas  of  the  Church.  No  prohibition  of  the  priests  was 
strong  enough  to  obliterate  the  craving  for  a  popular  liter- 
ature, for  no  school,  no  science,  was  opposed  to  the  supersti- 
tion of  the  people,  which  therefore  had  full  sway.  The  best 
the  Church  was  able  to  do  for  the  masses  was  to  foster  a 
"double  faith,"  in  which  Christianity  and  paganism  lived 
side  by  side.  We  shall  see  later  how  this  state  of  affairs  has 
been  favourable  to  the  preservation  of  an  oral  tradition  up  to 
the  present  time.  Yet,  but  for  the  Word  of  Igor' s  Armament, 
and  its  imitation,  the  ZadSnshchina,  no  one  could  have  sus- 
pected that  the  elements  of  a  natural,  unecclesiastic  literature 
were  present  in  ancient  Russia. 

This  Word  of  Igor's  Armament  is  unique.  It  was  com- 
posed at  a  time  when  Russia  was  already  well  Christianised, 
yet  the  references  to  Christianity  are  only  sporadic,  whereas 
the  ancient  pagan  divinities  and  popular  conceptions  come  in 
for  a  goodly  share  of  attention.  There  are  some  who  are 
inclined  to  see  in  this  production  a  forgery,  such  as  Hanka 
concocted  for  Bohemian  literature,  or  Macpherson  for  Celtic, 
for  the  absence  of  any  later  works  of  the  kind  seems  to  be 
inexplicable.  But  this  absence  need  not  surprise  us,  for  no 
such  work  could  have  been  written  at  a  later  time  outside 
the  Church,  which  alone  was  in  possession  of  a  modicum  of 
learning.  It  must  be  assumed  that  the  bard  of  the  Word 
represents  the  last  of  a  bygone  civilisation  that  had  its  firm 
footing  in  the  people,  but  stood  in  a  literary  relation  to  the 
singers  of  the  Norsemen;  for  there  is  much  in  the  Word  that 
reminds  one  of  the  Northern  sagas.  The  tradition  of  the 
bard  came  to  an  end  with  this  last  production,  but  his  man- 
ner, corrupted  and  twisted  by  a  wrongly  understood  Christ- 
ianity, lived  on  in  the  folksong  of  the  people;  hence  the 
remarkable  resemblance  between  the  two. 

But  for  the  inertia  of  the  Russian  Church  and  people,  it 
would  not  have  been  necessary  to  wait  until  a  Peter  the 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         1 7 

Great  violently  shook  the  country  into  activity,  for  long  be- 
fore his  time  glimpses  of  European  civilisation  reached  Mos- 
cow. In  the  fifteenth  century,  we  have  found  metropolitan 
Isidor  travelling  to  the  Council  of  Florence,  to  cast  his  vote 
in  favour  of  a  union  of  the  Churches  under  Rome.  In  the 
same  century  foreigners  began  to  arrive  in  Moscow  to  prac- 
tise medicine  or  architecture,  or  to  serve  in  the  Russian 
army ;  in  the  time  of  Ivdn  the  Terrible  there  was  already  a 
considerable  foreign  colony  in  Moscow,  and  its  influences 
upon  individual  Russians  were  not  rare.  Ivan  the  Terrible 
himself  made  several  attempts  to  get  skilled  mechanics  from 
the  West,  but  his  efforts  were  generally  frustrated  by  Poland 
and  the  Germans  of  the  Baltic  provinces. 

The  most  important  points  of  contact  with  the  West  were 
in  the  Church  itself,  through  Kiev  and  Western  Russia. 
These  outlying  parts  of  Russia  had  early  come  into  relation 
with  Poland,  and  their  unyielding  orthodoxy  had  been  mel- 
lowed by  the  prevailing  scholasticism  of  the  Polish  theology. 
In  the  academy  of  Kiev,  Greek  and  I,atin  grammar,  theology 
and  rhetoric  were  taught,  while  these  sciences— especially 
grammar,  even  though  it  were  Slavic  grammar  —  were 
looked  upon  at  Moscow  as  certain  expressions  of  heresy. 
The  correction  of  the  corrupt  church  books,  which  in  itself 
was  advocated  by  priests  who  had  imbibed  the  Kiev  culture, 
made  the  presence  of  learned  men — that  is,  of  such  as  knew 
grammar  enough  to  discover  orthographical  mistakes — an 
absolute  necessity.  In  the  reign  of  Alexis  Mikhdylovich, 
Kiev  monks  were  called  out  for  the  purpose  of  establishing 
a  school,  and  only  in  1649  was  the  first  of  the  kind  opened. 
This  innovation  divided  the  churchmen  into  two  camps, — 
those  who  advocated  the  Greek  grammar,  and  those  who 
advocated  the  Latin, — that  is,  those  who  would  hear  of 
nothing  that  distantly  might  remind  them  of  the  Latins, 
and  those  who  were  for  a  Western  culture,  even  though  it 
was  to  be  only  the  scholastic  learning  already  abandoned  in 
he  rest  of  Europe.  The  battle  between  the  two  was  fought 
to  the  death.  Those  who  were  in  favour  of  the  Latin  were 
generally  worsted,  and  some  of  the  most  promising  of  them 


i8        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

were  imprisoned  and  even  capitally  punished;  but  men  like 
Medvy^dev,  and  later  Sime6n  P61otski,  laid  the  foundation 
for  an  advancement,  however  gradual,  which  culminated  in 
the  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great. 

Where  a  few  individuals  gained  some  semblance  of  West- 
em  culture,  they  could  not  write  freely  at  home,  and  had  to 
develop  their  activities  abroad.  Kdrbski,  who  for  a  long 
time  stands  alone  as  an  historian,  wrote  his  History  in  Po- 
land, and  it  remained  without  any  influence  whatsoever  at 
home;  its  very  existence  was  not  known  before  our  own 
times.  The  same  thing  happened  with  Kotoshikhin,  whose 
description  of  Russia  was  known  to  the  learned  of  Sweden, 
but  the  original  of  which  was  unknown  until  its  accidental 
discovery  by  a  Russian  scholar  of  the  nineteenth  century. 
So,  while  the  ferment  of  reform  began  much  earlier  than  the 
eighteenth  century,  it  would  have  been  indefinitely  delayed, 
causing  many  a  bloody  battle,  if  the  Gordian  knot  had  not 
been  cut  by  Peter  the  Great  in  favour  of  the  West. 

II. — THE   FOLKLORE 

In  the  Russian  terminology,  the  people  includes  all  the 
elements  of  society  that  are  not  covered  by  the  term  intelli- 
gence. This  latter  is  a  comprehensive  designation  of  all  the 
classes  that  have  some  education  and  can  give  intelligent 
opinions  on  social,  political  and  cultural  themes.  The  vast 
majority  of  the  nation  are  the  people  in  the  narrower  sense, 
and  it  is  essentially  the  characteristic  of  the  democratic  nine- 
teenth century  to  regard  the  intellectual  life  of  this  people  as 
worthy  of  consideration.  This  is  true  of  the  world  at  large, 
but,  in  Russia,  preoccupation  with  the  people,  down  to  the 
lowest  strata  of  society,  has  become  a  dominating  note  in 
literature.  Whatever  other  causes  may  have  been  active  in 
creating  this  strong  sentiment, — and  they  will  be  discussed 
in  a  later  chapter, — the  strongest  impulse  to  such  a  people- 
worship  was  received  from  the  unexpected  and  undreamt-of 
wealth  of  that  popular  literature  which  has  been  unearthed 
by  the  diligent  labours  of  a  few  investigators. 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         19 

In  the  eighteenth  century,  the  term  people  had  a  wider 
significance.  All  those  who  did  not  belong  to  polite  society, 
that  is,  all  those  who  were  not  dignitaries  or  functionaries  of 
a  higher  order,  were  the  people,  and  at  first  the  literati  were 
included  in  that  general  appellation.  I^iterature  was  entirely 
in  the  service  of  the  higher  classes,  whom  it  was  intended  to 
amuse  and  eulogise;  there  was  no  other  audience,  and  writers 
had  to  direct  their  attention  to  filling  the  demand,  as  hire- 
lings of  princes,  and  as  pamperers  of  the  pseudo-classic  taste 
and  Voltairism  which  held  sway  in  refined  society.  Though 
frequently  originating  from  the  people,  these  writers  dis- 
severed all  connection  with  it,  for  they  had  no  longer  any 
interests  in  common.  With  a  few  occasional  exceptions,  the 
people  had  no  place  in  literature,  and  the  inflated  style  that 
prevailed  in  prose  and  poetry  was  so  far  removed  from  the 
language  of  the  people  that  the  written  literature  could  exert 
little  influence  upon  the  popular  mind,  and  if  there  existed 
anything  of  a  traditional  nature  among  the  lower  classes,  it 
was  little,  if  at  all,  contaminated  by  literary  influences. 
Whatever  it  had  received  from  bygone  ages  was  transmitted 
to  the  nineteenth  century  and  collected  just  in  time,  before 
its  certain  disintegration. 

This  disregard  for  the  enormous  majority  of  the  people 
was  an  inheritance  of  ancient  Russia,  before  the  reforms  of 
Peter  the  Great.  We  have  already  seen  with  what  unintel- 
ligent severity  the  Church  persecuted  every  creation  of  a 
popular  nature.  As  the  nation  consisted  of  the  Church  and 
the  people,  so,  also,  everything  that  was  not  directly  of  a 
Christian  tendency  was  un-Christian  and  therefore  tabooed. 
True  Christianity  could  never  take  possession  of  the  people 
that  was  not  intelligent  enough  to  discern  what  was  religion 
and  what  not,  and  the  result  was  that  "double  faith"  in 
which,  in  spite  of  the  persistent  endeavours  of  the  clergy, 
the  old  heathenism  showed  through  the  varnish  of  the  new 
faith.  The  anathemas  of  the  Church  against ' '  pagan  rites, ' ' 
which  included  the  singing  of  harmless  songs,  continue  down 
to  the  eighteenth  century. 

In  the  general  unprogressiveness  of  the  whole  country, 


20        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

the  agricultural  classes,  that  constituted  the  bulk  of  the 
people,  have  remained  unchanged  for  centuries.  Russia  was 
as  much  a  country  of  raw  products  in  the  eighteenth  century 
as  in  the  twelfth,  and  barter  and  tribute  in  kind  were  com- 
mon until  a  verj'  late  time.  The  life  of  the  peasant  has 
always  moved  in  the  same  primitive  conditions.  Nothing 
whatsoever  has  been  added  to  his  physical  and  intellectual 
existence  since  the  introduction  of  Christianity,  and  the 
latter  itself  did  not  much  afiFect  his  spiritual  life.  He  has 
remained  essentially  the  same  through  the  ages.  The  love 
of  singing  and  story-telling  that  characterises  him  to-day 
has,  no  doubt,  been  his  characteristic  for  centuries,  and  as 
the  memory  of  the  untutored  man  is  much  better  than  that 
of  the  lettered,  he  has  been  able  to  transmit  orally  to  our  own 
day  the  stock  of  his  ancient  songs  and  tales.  The  folklore 
of  Russia,  more  than  that  of  any  Western  nation,  bridges 
over  the  chasm  between  the  most  distant  antiquity  and  the 
present.  It  is  an  inheritance  of  the  past,  the  more  precious 
because  it  has  been  transmitted  by  an  unsophisticated  class, 
whereas  in  the  West  the  people  has  come  to  a  great  extent 
under  the  influence  of  the  literary  caste. 

When  the  folklore  of  Russia  first  became  accessible  to 
scholars,  the  adherents  of  the  mythological  theory  of  the 
origin  of  popular  tales  and  songs,  which  had  been  enunciated 
by  Grimm,  set  out  at  once  to  expound  the  epic  songs  and 
fairy  tales  as  purely  mythical  symbols  of  a  pre-Christian  era. 
It  was  assumed  that  the  songs  and  stories  had  come  down  to 
us  in  an  almost  unchanged  text  from  the  most  remote  an- 
tiquity, and  that  they  were  the  representatives  of  a  distinctly 
Russian  conception.  In  the  meantime,  Benfey  and  his  fol- 
lowers have  pointed  out  that  the  fairy  tales  of  Europe  are 
traceable  to  their  Indian  home,  whence  they  have  wandered 
to  the  most  remote  regions,  crossing  and  recrossing  each 
other,  and  mingling  in  a  variety  of  ways.  Even  the  casual 
song  that  bears  every  appearance  of  native  origin  is  fre- 
quently identical  with  similar  songs  in  distant  quarters;  so, 
for  example,  Professor  Child  has  brought  together  a  vast 
number  of  similar  motives  from  the  whole  world  in  his 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         2 1 

monumental  work  on  the  English  and  Scotch  Ballads. 
Under  the  stress  of  these  discoveries,  the  greater  part  of  the 
mythological  ballast  had  to  be  thrown  overboard,  and  Rus- 
sian folklore  was  brought  into  direct  relations  with  the  rest 
of  the  world. 

It  has  been  a  rude  disappointment  to  those  who  believed 
in  an  autochthonous  development  of  the  bylinas,  to  discover 
that  they  are  often  variations  of  similar  accounts  in  foreign 
literatures;  that,  for  example,  the  story  of  Sadko  the  Mer- 
chant has  been  found  to  be  identical  with  a  French  story; 
similarly,  the  ceremonial  songs  are  not  all  of  native  growth. 
The  study  of  comparative  literature  is  of  recent  development, 
at  least  so  far  as  Russian  sources  are  concerned,  and  only  a 
small  part  of  the  material  has  been  properly  located;  but  this 
much  can  even  now  be  asserted, — that  the  folklore  of  Russia 
is  much  more  intimately  connected  with  that  of  Europe  and 
Asia  than  is  the  written  literature  of  the  old  period.  Much 
of  the  apocryphal  matter  came  through  the  South  Slavic 
countries;  many  stories  and  songs  must  have  wandered  by 
way  of  Poland  to  White-Russia,  and  hence  farther  into  the 
interior.  Anciently  there  could  have  been  an  interchange 
of  motives  between  Germany  and  Russia  in  the  cities  of 
N6vgorod  and  Pskov,  which  stood  in  commercial  relations 
with  the  towns  of  the  Hansa,  while  earlier  the  Northern 
saga  may  have  left  some  traces  during  the  domination  of  the 
Norse.  But  one  of  the  investigators,  Stdsov,  and  after  him 
Potdnin,  have  stoutly  maintained  that  most  of  the  stories  of 
the  Russian  epic  cycle  came  with  the  Tartars  directly  from 
Asia. 

If  we  admit  all  possible  borrowings  from  the  West  and  the 
East,  Russian  folklore  is  still  of  unique  interest  to  the  stud- 
ent of  literature  on  account  of  the  evident  traces  of  great 
antiquity  which  it  has  preserved.  The  same  cause  that  kept 
the  written  literature  of  Russia  at  a  low  level  and  destroyed 
all  appreciable  chronology  has  been  active  in  the  traditional 
literature,  and  has  saved  it  from  violent  transformations.  It 
cannot  be  asserted  that  any  one  song  has  come  down  to  us 
in  its  original  shape.     The  change  of  the  spoken  language 


22        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

naturally  affected  the  stories  and  songs,  and  many  a  word 
that  has  become  obsolete  has  been  superseded,  or  preserved 
in  an  unrecognisable  form.  Contemporary  facts  of  history 
have  been  introduced  in  the  place  of  older  ones,  as  when  the 
heroes  of  the  cycle  of  Vladimir  are  made  to  fight  the  Tartars. 
Motives  have  become  mingled  by  superposition  of  related 
stories,  or  by  accretion  of  foreign  material.  But  never  has 
the  people  wilfully  transformed,  corrupted,  added  or  taken 
away.  Though  individuals  continually  produced  new  songs 
and  stories,  yet  they  moved  in  narrowly  prescribed  tradi- 
tional limits,  and  the  moment  these  passed  to  the  people  and 
became  its  common  possession,  they  suffered  only  the  accid- 
ental changes  just  spoken  of.  The  task  of  separating  later 
and  adventitious  elements  from  the  bulk  of  this  literature 
has  only  begun,  and  when  that  is  accomplished,  the  past  of 
Russia  will  be  reproduced  much  more  clearly  than  that  of 
other  countries  of  Europe,  because  an  achronous  period 
separates  the  last  two  centuries  from  the  tenth. 

Only  one  epic,  the  Word  of  Igor' s  Atynament,  has  survived 
from  antiquity.  That  others  existed,  the  bard  assures  us 
when  he  tells  of  princes,  for  a  period  of  a  whole  century, 
whom  Boydn,  an  older  singer,  had  celebrated.  This  precious 
relic  is  not  only  interesting  for  its  intrinsic  poetical  merit, 
permitting  us  to  guess  the  possibilities  of  the  Russian  un- 
tutored mind  before  the  introduction  of  the  repressive  Byzant- 
inism,  but  it  serves  as  a  guide  in  redating  much  of  the  oral 
literature  of  the  present  day.  In  the  bylinas,  the  ceremonial 
songs,  the  fairy  tales,  we  continually  come  upon  passages 
that  are  constructed  in  the  same  manner  as  in  the  Word,  and 
the  popular  poetry  of  to-day  and  the  writings  of  the  whole 
old  period  contain  many  identical  phrases  and  illustrations. 

The  epic  songs,  or  bylfnas,  have  been  discovered  in  out- 
of-the-way  places  in  the  swampy  region  of  the  Government 
of  OI6netsk.  It  has  puzzled  all  the  investigators  to  explain 
why  the  memory  of  Vladimir  and  his  heroes  should  have 
lived  so  long  in  these  distant  regions  when  everj'  recollection 
of  them  has  entirely  disappeared  in  Kiev,  the  scene  of  all 
their  deeds.     Throughout  these  epic  songs  there  is  evidence ' 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         23 

of  their  southern  origin,  yet  nothing  whatsoever  is  known  of 
them  in  the  south  of  Russia,  Various  explanations  have 
been  attempted,  but  the  most  wide-spread  is  that  the  Great- 
Russians  of  the  south  had  been  exterminated  by  the  Tartars, 
and  that  the  few  who  survived  had  taken  refuge  in  the 
north,  while  the  present  inhabitants  of  the  south  have  come 
from  the  south-east  and  represent  a  different  tribe.  There 
seems,  however,  to  be  a  more  plausible  explanation.  Con- 
sidering that  the  Word  of  Igor' s  Armament  has  not  survived 
except  in  writing,  and  that  there  are  no  old  epics  living  in 
the  mouths  of  the  people,  except  in  inaccessible  regions,  it 
is  natural  to  assume  that  no  longer  poem,  nor  a  cycle  of 
poems,  which  demanded  a  great  amount  of  mental  exertion 
and  a  special  class  of  singers,  could  outlive  the  persecution 
of  the  Church,  and  that  only  where  the  people  were  separ- 
ated from  the  rest  of  the  world  by  impassable  swamps  and 
forests,  and  where,  therefore,  the  influence  of  the  Church 
was  of  necessity  weakest,  was  it  possible  for  the  class  of 
traditional  bards  to  maintain  itself. 

There  is  ample  evidence  that  these  epics  were  based  on 
historical  events,  and  that  they  belong  to  the  same  category 
as  the  historical  songs,  of  which  a  number  have  been  recorded 
from  the  seventeenth  century  and  later.  The  oldest  are 
those  that  Richard  James  had  written  down  in  1619;  they 
were  composed  by  some  popular  bard  immediately  after  the 
incidents  which  they  relate.  Later  historical  songs  deal 
with  Peter  the  Great,  while  the  song  collections  contain 
many  others  that  range  in  time  from  Ivdn  the  Terrible  to 
the  nineteenth  century.  The  manner  of  all  these  is  identi- 
cal, and  strongly  reminds  us  of  the  epic  songs.  From  this 
it  may  be  inferred  that  the  bylinas  were  separate  songs, 
composed  by  contemporary  bards,  and  that  their  present 
condition  is  merely  due  to  that  series  of  corruptions  to  which 
all  orally  transmitted  literature  is  subject. 

In  the  Word,  Germans,  Venetians,  Greeks  and  Moravians 
are  made  to  sing  the  glory  of  Svyatoslav.  This  is  certainly 
not  a  mere  adornment  of  speech,  but  rests  on  the  actual  fact 
of  a  lively  intercommunication  between  the  Kast  and  the 


24        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

West  before  the  introduction  of  Christianity  and  in  the  first 
century  following  it.  Thus,  the  chief  hero  of  the  Vladimir 
cycle,  Ilyd  of  Mdrom,  was  known  to  German  song  and  the 
Northern  saga,  where  he  is  often  mentioned.  It  has  also 
been  found  that  many  of  the  heroes  are  real  personages 
whose  names  are  recorded  in  chronicles.  Yet,  though  Vlad- 
imir is  made  the  centre  of  the  Kiev  cycle,  his  heroes  seem  to 
range  over  two  or  three  centuries ;  from  this  we  may  conclude 
that  poetical  activity  continued  for  a  long  time,  and  that  it 
is  only  a  later  tradition  that  has  grouped  all  the  interesting 
events  around  the  famous  Vladimir.  Originally,  there  must 
have  been  a  number  of  cities  of  prominence  around  which 
separate  epics  centred,  but  in  time  they  were  transferred  to 
the  three  great  cities,  ELiev,  N6vgorod  and  Moscow,  where 
the  national  life  had  its  fullest  development. 

In  the  ceremonial  songs,  antiquity  is  even  better  preserved 
than  in  the  epics,  and  quite  naturally.  The  epics  arose  on 
special  occasions,  were  adapted  to  transitory  historical  in- 
cidents, and  only  the  most  favourable  conditions  of  seclusion 
could  save  them  from  entire  oblivion.  Not  so  the  cere- 
monial songs.  These  belonged  to  a  heathen  religion,  con- 
tained a  mythological  element,  and  were  part  and  parcel  of 
the  people's  belief  and  customs.  The  chief  labour  of  the 
Church  consisted  in  battling  against  the  survivals  from 
heathenism ;  but  all  it  accomplished  was  to  ensure  an  exist- 
ence for  the  Christian  tenets  by  the  side  of  the  traditional 
customs.  The  pagan  festivities  were  merged  in  the  corre- 
sponding holidays  of  the  Church,  but  the  old  games,  rites 
and  songs  went  on  as  before.  In  time,  the  meaning  of  all 
the  customs  connected  with  the  seasons,  marriage,  death,  was 
forgotten,  but  the  simple  ditties  were  easily  remembered, 
though  frequently  transferred  to  other  occasions.  Had 
there  existed  in  the  Russian  Middle  Ages  any  incitement  to 
the  introduction  of  new  songs,  the  old  ones  would  have  been 
abandoned  long  ago;  but  city  life  was  weakly  represented 
in  the  country,  most  of  the  towns  hardly  diflFering  from 
agricultural  settlements,  and  the  city  song,  which  always 
plays  havoc  with  the  country  tunes,  had  little  chance  to 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         25 

spread.  City  life  is  of  quite  recent  growth  in  Russia,  and 
industrialism,  which  is  only  now  developing  under  our  very 
eyes,  draws  many  forces  away  from  the  plough ;  when  these 
return  to  the  village,  they  bring  with  them  the  refrains  of 
the  modern  opera,  and  degraded  street  ballads.  The  same 
lowering  of  the  popular  poetry  has  been  caused  in  the  nine- 
teenth century  by  the  soldiers  who  have  come  in  contact 
with  the  city.  The  result  of  this  is  the  complete  disappear- 
ance of  popular  song  from  some  districts,  and  its  gradual 
dying  out  in  others.  Should  this  tendency  continue  with 
any  regularity,  a  new  kind  of  folksong  will  result,  but  in 
the  meanwhile  there  is  produced  an  uninteresting  chaos. 

The  freer  form  of  the  prose  story  and  the  fairy  tale,  which 
are  bound  by  neither  verse  nor  tune,  makes  them  more  sub- 
ject to  change  than  the  ceremonial  song.  Whatever  their 
original  meaning  may  have  been,  they  have  been  preserved 
as  mere  stories  to  amuse.  Though  they  frequently  deal 
with  mythical  beings  who  had  some  special  meaning,  they 
have  all  an  equal  value,  and  one  tale  is  as  good  as  another; 
consequently  they  easily  combined  with  each  other,  and 
new  elements  were  continually  added  to  them.  The  prose 
story  is,  therefore,  less  local  and  even  less  national :  it  travels 
far  and  wide,  and  may  turn  up  in  any  corner  of  the  globe. 
The  Russian  peasant  is  a  good  story  -  teller,  witty  and 
dramatic;  hence  he  has  added  much  local  colouring  to  all 
the  flotsam  of  fairyland,  and  the  folktales  of  Russia  have  a 
distinct  flavour  of  their  own,  and  are  relished  even  more 
than  the  popular  tales  of  the  West.  The  absence  of  a  book 
influence  on  these  stories  shows  itself  in  simplicity  of  narra- 
tion and  lack  of  a  moral ;  the  latter  is  particularly  the  case 
in  the  animal  tales,  which,  contrary  to  the  usual  stories  of 
the  kind,  contain  no  explicit  instruction. 

In  the  nineteenth  century,  the  popular  element  enters 
more  and  more  into  the  literary  productions,  but  a  proper 
beginning  has  hardly  been  made  in  utilising  the  extremely 
rich  store  of  Russian  folklore.  When  the  Romantic  spirit 
held  sway  over  the  West,  Russia  had  not  yet  collected  its 
songs  and  popular  stories,  and  a  Zhuk6vski  had  to  imitate 


26        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

Western  models,  in  order  to  make  Romanticism  accessible. 
Piishkin  divined  more  correctly  the  value  of  the  native 
stories,  and  made  excellent  use  of  the  tales  of  his  nurse. 
Otherwise,  only  sporadic  use  has  been  made  of  the  folktale 
in  literature.  One  of  the  best  literary  rifacimentos  is  the 
collection  of  all  the  stories  told  about  the  Fox,  which  Mozh- 
ar6vski  has  brought  together  in  one  long,  connected  series. 

III. — THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 

The  Court  at  Moscow  had  come  into  contact  with  foreign 
ideas  ever  since  the  days  of  Ivdn  the  Terrible.  The  "Ger- 
man Suburb,"  as  the  foreign  colony  was  called,  was  itself  a 
piece  of  the  West,  transplanted  into  the  semi-barbarous 
capital,  and  foreigners  of  necessity  occupied  various  posts  in 
the  Government.  Germans,  Greeks,  and  especially  English- 
men were  employed  as  ambassadors  and  foreign  agents,  and 
in  the  seventeenth  century  it  was  not  rare  to  find  Westerners 
as  teachers  of  Russian  youths.  At  the  same  time,  clergymen 
from  Kiev  carried  ever  more  and  more  the  Polish  scholastic- 
ism and  rhetoric  to  the  most  orthodox  city,  and  with  it  came 
the  weak  reflection  of  Western  culture.  Alexis  Mikhdylo- 
vich  became  fascinated  by  the  theatre,  and  a  German  troupe 
and  even  English  comedians  played  before  the  Tsar;  among 
these  early  plays  was  a  crude  rifacimento  of  Marlowe's 
Tamerlane.  Sophia  went  one  step  further,  and  had  a  Russian 
translation  of  Moli^re's  Midecin  malgri  lui  performed  in  her 
apartments.  Even  poetry  of  an  European  type  had  made  its 
appearance  before  Kantemfr,  though  only  in  the  mediocre 
syllabic  versification  of  a  Kari6n  Ist6min  and  a  Sime6n 
P6lotski.  Yet  the  progress  was  very  slow,  and  the  historian 
of  Peter's  time,  Tatishchev,  had  figured  out  that  at  the  rate 
at  which  it  was  proceeding,  it  would  take  Russia  seven 
generations,  or  more  than  two  hundred  years,  to  be  equal 
in  civilisation  to  the  rest  of  Europe. 

Then  Peter  appeared.  He  found  around  him  weak  tend- 
encies to  reform,  but  hardly  any  men  to  help  him  carry 
them  out,  and  no  institutions  of  any  kind  on  which  to 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         27 

engraft  the  new  knowledge  he  had  brought  with  him  from 
Holland  and  Germany.  There  was  no  native  scientific 
literature  whatsoever;  there  were  no  terms  in  which  to  ex- 
press the  truths  which  he  and  his  disciples  had  learned; 
there  was  no  established  language  even  for  educated  people. 
Peter  united  in  his  person  the  extreme  of  practical  sense  with 
the  idealism  of  youth;  while  bent  on  introducing  mechanical 
sciences  for  the  advancement  of  his  country,  he  at  the  same 
time  carried  on  a  correspondence  with  the  philosopher  I/Cib- 
niz,  and  favoured  the  introduction  of  every  branch  of  litera- 
ture. With  an  indomitable  will  he  wanted  to  merge  savage 
Russia  into  the  liberal  West,  and  he  frequently  used  savage 
means  to  attain  his  end. 

Peter's  idea  of  conviviality  consisted  in  getting  drunk  in 
a  room  filled  with  tobacco  smoke,  as  he  had  known  it  in  the 
taverns  of  Holland,  and  the  whole  aspect  of  literature  of  his 
period  is  that  of  a  crude  democracy,  such  as  he  advocated  in 
his  own  circle.  In  whatever  he  or  his  followers  wrote  there 
is  a  tone  of  rough  simplicity,  practical  liberalism,  and  the 
ardour  of  manful  youth.  Everything  that  could  be  useful 
to  the  State  and  nation  received  his  equal  attention.  He 
familiarised  his  people  with  the  German  and  Dutch  jurists, 
who  were  translated  under  his  care,  and  with  text-books  on 
the  most  necessary  sciences  and  arts;  he  corresponded  with 
German,  French  and  English  scholars  on  the  subject  of 
establishing  universities  and  academies;  he  invited  actors 
from  Slavic  Austria  to  play  in  his  theatre;  and  superin- 
tended the  translation  of  Ovid,  of  encyclopedias,  and  of 
romances.  In  this  burning  activity  there  could  be  no  such 
a  thing  as  a  literary  school;  everything  was  welcome,  pro- 
vided it  advanced  his  cherished  reforms. 

There  was  no  time  to  waste  on  the  mere  externals  of 
language.  The  authors  of  the  day  had  to  grope  their  way 
as  best  they  could.  Some  interlarded  their  style  with  hybrid 
words  from  all  the  tongues  of  Europe;  others  wavered  be- 
tween a  purely  Slavic  and  a  more  or  less  Russianised  lan- 
guage, and  Peter  the  Great,  though  he  was  fond  of  a  display 
of  Dutch  words,  could  use  a  very  idiomatic  style.     While 


28        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

Stefdn  Yav6rski  and  Feofdn  Prokop6vich  charmed  their 
congregations  with  elegant  sermons  in  which  Byzantine 
rhetoric  and  Western  eloquence  had  the  fullest  sway,  Tat- 
Ishchev  laboured  to  find  the  proper  expressions  for  the 
historical  truths  which  he  had  well  learned  in  the  West, 
and  the  peasant  Pososhk6v  dimly  guessed  the  economic 
problems  that  presented  themselves  to  the  country,  vainly 
trying  to  clothe  them  in  an  intelligible  language. 

Peter  did  not  live  to  see  the  fruition  of  his  endeavours  in 
literature.  The  time  was  too  short  to  produce  any  good 
writers,  and  though  belles-lettres  were  encouraged,  the  whole 
attention  of  the  best  minds  was  absorbed  in  the  acquisition 
of  the  most-needed  information.  Knowledge  was  the  watch- 
word of  Peter's  time,  and  the  desire  for  knowledge  was  so 
great  that  even  later  Lomon6sov  and  Tredyak6vski  thought 
no  hardships  too  great,  to  gain  the  coveted  instruction.  It 
is  characteristic  of  the  times,  that  these  two  poets  in  the  new 
style  walked  to  Moscow  to  enter  school,  one  from  the  extreme 
north,  the  other  from  the  extreme  south.  A  mighty  task 
fell  to  the  lot  of  the  generation  that  had  been  born  in  the 
days  of  the  great  Tsar.  They  had  to  transfer  the  whole 
European  culture  to  Russian  soil  and  to  discover  a  means 
of  expressing  it.  Kantemfr,  whose  education  was  of  an 
European  type,  chose  the  ready  model  of  French  verse  in 
which  to  write  his  satires,  wrestling  to  say  in  Russian  what 
he  thought  out  in  French.  Tredyakovski  discovered  the 
proper  versification  for  his  native  tongue,  but  his  diligence 
and  good  sense  did  not  make  up  for  his  barren  poetical 
talent.  Sumar6kov,  single-handed,  created  the  drama, 
while  Lomon6sov  fostered  the  ode,  settled  grammar  and 
created  Russian  science. 

The  intermediate  period  between  the  death  of  Peter  the 
Great  and  the  accession  of  Catherine  II.  was  not  one  that 
would  in  itself  have  encouraged  people  to  take  to  literature, 
which  was  looked  down  upon  as  the  handmaid  of  the  mighty, 
if  the  writers  had  not  inherited  an  insatiable  love  of  know- 
ledge. The  rough  and  sincere  manner  of  the  Tsar  had  given 
way  to  a  flimsy  imitation  of  the  Court  at  Versailles.     With 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         29 

the  introduction  of  Western  civilisation,  the  Empresses 
Anna  and  Elizabeth  took  over  only  the  mere  external  ap- 
pearance, the  love  of  pleasure,  a  luxury  that  was  incom- 
patible with  their  rude  surroundings.  Literary  men  had  no 
public  to  write  for,  except  the  degraded  courtiers  who  might 
flatter  themselves  that  they  were  the  Maecenases  of  that 
literature  for  which,  in  their  hearts,  they  cared  very  little. 
Odes  by  which  one  might  gain  a  favour,  solemn  addresses 
written  to  order,  tragedies  to  be  furnished  by  such  and  such 
a  date,  epigrams  of  a  flippant  turn, — these  were  the  verses 
that  the  courtiers  wanted,  and  they  were  furnished  in  suffi- 
cient quantity.  Though  IvOmon6sov  was  more  intimately 
acquainted  with  Giinther  than  with  Boileau,  yet  he,  like 
his  contemporaries,  found  himself  compelled  to  favour  the 
introduction  of  the  French  pseudo-classic  style,  which  was 
the  only  one  that  high  society  knew  anything  about.  From 
chaos  and  no  literature  at  all,  Russia  was  of  necessity  forced 
to  cultivate  the  unnatural  imitation  of  what  was  supposed  to 
be  classic  antiquity,  before  it  knew  anything  about  that 
antiquity,  and  before  it  had  tried  itself  in  simpler  fields. 
The  literature  of  that  period  was  consequently  unreal, 
stilted,  distant. 

This  pseudo-classicism  continued  to  flourish  to  the  end  of 
the  century,  though  a  new  spirit  had  taken  possession  of 
men's  minds  in  the  reign  of  Catherine.  This  Empress  had 
educated  herself  in  the  school  of  the  great  philosophers  who, 
in  the  second  half  of  the  eighteenth  century,  were  the 
dominating  spirits  in  European  literature.  She  corre- 
sponded with  Voltaire,  had  not  only  studied  Montesquieu, 
but  embodied  his  Esprit  des  Lois  in  her  famous  instruction 
for  a  new  code  of  laws,  invited  d'Alembert  to  be  her  son's 
tutor, — in  short,  she  was  in  sympathy  with  the  humanitarian 
movements  of  the  encyclopedists.  She  planned  reforms  on 
a  magnificent  scale, — though  but  few  of  them  were  executed, 
as  her  theories  were  only  academic  and  had  little  reference 
to  existing  conditions.  Though  she  planned,  with  the  help 
of  Diderot,  a  complicated  educational  system,  yet  there  were 
no  more  schools  at  the  end  of  her  reign  than  at  the  beginning, 


30        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

and  the  freedom  of  the  press  was  curtailed  much  more 
in  the  second  half  of  her  rule  than  in  the  first.  So  long  as 
there  were  no  disturbing  elements  at  home,  and  things  went 
to  her  liking,  she  was  pleased  to  favour  the  liberalism  which 
had  spread  over  Europe,  and  had  found  its  advocates  at 
other  Courts.  Her  idealism  was  of  a  purely  intellectual 
character,  and  her  humanitarian  views  as  she  had  expressed 
them  in  her  Instruction  were  good  and  harmless  so  long  as 
they  remained  on  paper.  The  moment  she  was  disturbed  in 
her  philanthropy  by  the  rebellion  of  Pugach^v  at  home,  and 
when,  later,  she  was  still  more  startled  by  the  events  of  the 
French  Revolution,  which  it  became  the  fashion  to  ascribe 
to  the  philosophy  of  Voltaire,  she  recanted  her  liberalism, 
and  tried  to  crush  all  intellectual  progress  that  had  grown 
strong  in  the  earlier  part  of  her  reign.  The  best  authors 
were  ruthlessly  persecuted:  Radishchev  was  banished  to 
Siberia  for  his  advocating  the  very  theories  which  she  had 
propounded  in  her  Instruction ;  Novikov's  philanthropic 
activity  was  suflBcient  cause  for  his  imprisonment,  and  it 
was  fortunate  for  Knyazhnfn  that  he  was  dead  when  his 
Vadim  of  Ndvgorod  made  its  appearance. 

Yet,  Russian  literature  owes  much  to  Catherine,  who,  at 
least  in  the  first  part  of  her  enlightened  absolutism,  encour- 
aged a  healthy  development  of  Letters,  often  through  her 
own  example.  Her  own  writings  familiarised  her  people 
with  the  best  thought  of  Europe,  and  as  before  her  Racine 
and  Boileau,  so  now  Voltaire,  Beccaria,  Montesquieu,  were 
upon  the  lips  of  all.  Literature  had  begun  in  imitations  of 
foreign  models,  and  hardly  a  trace  of  anything  original  is  to 
be  found  in  the  eighteenth  century;  but  even  a  superficial 
Voltairism  was  preferable  to  the  more  distant  pseudo-classic- 
ism of  the  preceding  reigns,  for,  though  most  of  its  human- 
itarianism  was  spurious  and  its  culture  skin-deep,  it  led  a 
few  more  gifted  individuals  to  a  clearer  perception  of  actual- 
ities, to  a  fuller  interest  in  that  which  was  immediate  and 
around  them,  and,  in  the  end,  to  true  culture. 

The  most  promising  influence  on  Russian  literature  was 
the  one  which  Addison  and  the  English  satirical  journals 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         31 

began  to  exert  on  Catherine  and  on  nearly  all  the  writers  of 
the  day.  The  Spectator,  the  Guardian,  and  the  Tatler  had 
found  a  host  of  imitators  in  continental  Europe,  and  satirical 
journals  sprang  up  in  astonishing  abundance.  It  is  not 
likely  that  Catherine  became  acquainted  with  the  English 
originals.  Her  knowledge  came  rather  through  German  and 
French  translations;  and  the  many  passages  from  these  Eng- 
lish journals  that  found  their  way  into  Russia  after  the  fifties 
were  likewise  generally  derived  at  second  hand.  In  any 
case,  Addison  and  the  satirical  journals  took  deep  root  in 
Russian  soil,  and  a  long  series  of  similar  productions,  from 
1769  to  1774,  had  a  very  salutary  effect  on  the  drama  and  on 
those  writings  in  which  contemporary  manners  are  held  up 
to  the  scorn  and  ridicule  of  the  people.  Catherine  herself, 
the  founder  of  the  first  of  these  journals,  had  only  the  inten- 
tion of  practising  this  kind  of  literature  for  purposes  of  good- 
natured  banter,  and  she  was  rather  shocked  when  she 
discovered  that  her  example  had  given  N6vikov  and  his 
adherents  a  weapon  for  attacking  all  the  negative  sides  of 
contemporary  civilisation.  Without  having  wished  it, 
Catherine  gave  into  the  hands  of  the  disaffected  a  means  of 
concentrating  themselves  around  a  name,  a  standard, — and 
public  opinion  became  a  factor  in  literature. 

Patronage  of  the  mighty  was  as  much  a  goal  towards  which 
authors  aimed  in  the  days  of  Catherine  as  in  the  previous 
half-century,  and  the  Empress  regarded  it  as  her  privilege 
and  duty  to  draw  literary  talent  to  the  Court,  by  giving 
them  government  positions  and  lavish  gifts.  Derzhdvin, 
Fon-Vfzin,  Bogdan6vich,  Kostr6v,  Petrov,  all  were  attracted 
to  her  as  the  central  luminary.  Felitsa  was  the  keynote  of 
what  Derzhdvin  purported  to  be  a  new  departure  in  the 
writing  of  odes,  but  it  was  in  reality  an  old  laudatory  theme 
with  an  application  of  fashionable  liberalism,  and  FeUtsa  re- 
mained the  watchword  of  a  generation  of  poets  that  gyrated 
around  the  throne.  At  the  same  time,  Catherine  made  a 
seeming  appeal  to  public  opinion  by  her  comedies  and  satires. 
If  Novikov  took  her  in  earnest,  and  responded  to  her  invit- 
ation by  making  a  stand  against  her  lukewarm  satire  by  a 


32         A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

systematic  arraignment  of  vice  in  every  form,  he  soon  found 
it  necessary  in  his  next  literary  venture,  the  Painter^  to  ap- 
pease her  suspicion  and  anger  by  a  fulsome  praise  of  the 
Empress.  Underneath  this  outward  dependence  upon  the 
Court's  opinion,  literary  coteries  were,  however,  beginning 
to  come  into  existence,  and  the  dramas  of  the  day  re- 
ceived their  impulse  from  their  writings,  and  in  their  turn 
were  beginning  to  look  to  others  than  the  Court  for  their 
approval. 

These  coteries  were  concentrated  around  the  Masonic 
lodges,  where,  under  the  pledge  of  secrecy,  an  exchange  of 
ideas  could  take  place,  and  which,  consequently,  Catherine 
hated  more  and  more.  This  Freemasonry  was  in  itself  under 
English  influence,  whence  were  taken  the  ceremonial  and  the 
organisation.  It  is  said  that  Freemasonry  first  made  its  ap- 
pearance in  Russia  under  Peter  the  Great;  later  it  came  also 
under  German  influence,  had  its  wide-spread  connections  in 
Europe,  and,  under  the  guise  of  mysterious  practices,  dis- 
cussed the  means  of  spreading  popular  education,  doing  un- 
stinted charity,  and  ensuring  freedom  of  thought.  In  the 
uncertain  and  superficial  state  of  culture  which  then  prevailed 
in  Russia,  much  that  these  men  did  was  unreal  and  irrele- 
vant: they  lost  themselves  in  the  mystical  speculations  of 
the  Martinists  and  the  Rosicrucians,  and  wasted  their  time 
in  an  unprofitable  symbolism.  But  it  is  sufficient  to  read 
the  biography  of  a  N6vikov  to  perceive  that  their  efforts  for 
the  advancement  of  science  and  useful  knowledge  were  more 
real  than  those  of  the  cultivated  and  more  materialistic 
Catherine.  If  Catherine  had  made  the  press  free,  she  also 
persecuted  those  who  had  availed  themselves  of  the  privilege 
against  her  pleasure;  if  her  mouth  spoke  fine  sentiments, 
her  heart  was  closed  against  their  realisation.  But  N6vikov, 
in  the  silence  of  his  mysticism,  made  Russia's  past  accessible 
to  the  scholar,  founded  the  book  trade,  and  took  a  practical 
interest  in  the  common  people  by  giving  them  useful  books 
to  read.  This  N6vikov,  and  the  unfortunate  Radishchev, 
whose  book  is  even  now  prohibited  in  Russia,  and  Shcher- 
bdtov,  who  preferred  the  rough  old  times  to  the  flighty 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         33 

manners  of  the  day, — that  is,  the  writers  who  were  at  outs 
with  existing  conditions, — were  the  carriers  of  a  new  spirit 
which,  though  not  characteristically  Russian,  was  akin  to  it 
in  that  it  devoted  itself  with  ardour  to  the  treatment  of 
burning  questions  from  a  native  standpoint.  Two  of  these 
writers,  Shcherbdtov  and  Ndvikov,  were  Slavophiles  in  the 
best  sense  of  the  word. 

We  shall  now  make  the  balance-sheet  of  the  eighteenth- 
century  literature  in  the  separate  departments,  and  see  what 
residuum  it  bequeathed  to  the  nineteenth  century. 

In  the  scholastic  style  of  the  Middle  Ages  it  became  a 
settled  practice  to  dedicate  books  to  powerful  persons,  and 
to  address  them  with  eulogies  on  all  solemn  occasions.  Po- 
lish influence  had  made  this  kind  of  poetry  popular  at  Kiev, 
and  Simeon  Polotski  introduced  it  in  Moscow  in  time  to  sing 
the  glory  of  the  new-born  Peter.  Lomon6sov's  activity 
began  with  an  ode,  and  Tredyakovski,  Sumarokov,  Petr6v 
and  a  host  of  minor  poets,  if  that  name  can  be  applied  to 
writers  of  soulless  rhymed  adulation,  proceeded  in  the  beaten 
track  of  "  ecstatic  "  poetry,  until  Dmitriev  gave  it  the  death- 
blow by  his  Wha£  Others  Say.  The  only  positive  value  lay 
in  the  odes  of  Lomonosov  in  which  he  described  phenomena 
of  nature,  and  those  of  Derzhdvin,  who,  following  his  ex- 
ample, made  similar  use  of  them  as,  for  example,  in  his  Ode 
to  the  Deity.  His  Felitsa,  which  marked  the  disintegration 
of  the  "  ecstatic  ode,"  left  its  effect  in  the  lighter  epistolary 
poetry  of  his  contemporaries,  like  Kostr6v,  and  may  even  be 
traced  in  the  playful  productions  of  the  next  generation. 

The  epic  is  akin  to  the  ode,  in  that  it  is  a  kind  of  rapturous 
eulogy  on  some  momentous  event  in  history.  In  the  mad 
intoxication  with  foreign  pseudo-classic  ideals  there  could  be 
no  place  for  a  proper  understanding  of  native  history ;  hence 
the  flatulent  epics  of  Kherdskov,  admired  though  they  were, 
could  be  of  no  lasting  merit.  The  other  epics  dealt  with 
foreign  subjects.  Tredyakovski 's  Telemachiad  could  only 
amuse  as  a  piece  of  poetical  ineptitude,  and  a  pleasure-loving 
public  of  the  times  of  Catherine  II.  was  more  inclined  to  go 
into  raptures  over  Apuleius's  Golden  Ass  which,  having 


34        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

passed  through  a  French  transformation,  appeared  as  a 
species  of  mock-heroic  in  Bogdan6vich's  Psyche.  Pdshkin 
still  took  delight  in  it,  and  his  earlier  productions  of  this 
kind  have  something  of  Bogdan6vich's  manner.  Mdykov's 
ElisSy,  which  is  really  superior  to  the  Psyche,  was  not  so  well 
received  because  he  introduced  too  freely  the  popular  ele- 
ment, for  which  at  that  time  there  could  be  no  appreciation. 

lyyrics  (in  the  narrower  sense  of  poems  expressing  the  in- 
dividual emotion  of  the  writer)  can  have  a  place  only  where 
the  conditions  are  favourable  to  the  formation  of  individual 
feelings,  where  well-defined  conceptions  of  nature  and  man 
are  common  to  a  certain  class  of  society  or  to  the  whole 
nation.  Nothing  of  the  kind  could  exist  in  Russia  through- 
out the  greater  part  of  the  eighteenth  century,  when  every- 
thing was  only  external  veneer,  and  no  lyrics  made  their 
appearance  until  the  last  quarter,  when,  under  the  influence 
of  a  thorough  acquaintance  with  Horace  and  the  French 
lyricists,  some  fine  verses  were  produced  by  Bogdan6vich, 
Kapnist,  Derzhdvin,  Dmitriev,  Neledinski-Mel6tski.  Most 
of  these  poems  only  appeared  in  the  nineteenth  century,  and 
all  belong  to  that  intermediate  stage  of  literature  which  was 
represented  by  Karamzin  and  Dmitriev  and  which,  in  spirit, 
no  longer  continues  the  tradition  of  the  days  of  Catherine. 

Kryl6v's  fables  are  justly  celebrated  as  among  the  best 
literature  that  Russia  evolved  in  the  last  century ;  but  they 
are  only  the  culmination  of  a  series  of  fables,  most  of  them 
adaptations  from  La  Fontaine  and  Gellert,  in  which  nearly 
all  the  poets  tried  their  skill.  By  1700,  there  had  been  cur- 
rent in  Russia  three  translations  of  Esop's  Fables,  and 
P6lotski  had  imitated  a  number  of  such  as  he  knew.  Here 
again  we  see  the  utter  inability  of  the  writers  of  the  eight- 
eenth century  to  make  use  of  a  popular  motive.  Nothing 
is  more  common  in  the  oral  literature  of  the  people  than 
fables,  especially  animal  fables,  yet  they  had  to  borrow  their 
themes  from  abroad.  Sumar6kov's  fables  make,  with  rare 
exceptions,  unprofitable  reading ;  Mdy kov  struck  a  few  times 
a  proper  note,  and  Kh^mnitser  alone,  though  he  followed 
Gellert  closely,  is  still  read  with  pleasure  on  account  of  the 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         35 

simplicity  of  his  tales.  Dmitriev,  as  before,  belongs  to 
another  period. 

Modem  Russian  poetry  practically  begins  with  the  satires 
of  Kantemir,  and  satires,  with  their  adjunct,  comedy,  have 
remained  down  to  our  day  the  most  prominent  part  of  belles- 
lettres  ;  only,  whereas  their  usual  purpose  is  to  provoke 
laughter,  in  Russia  tears  are  their  more  appropriate  due. 
Under  the  systematic,  though  arbitrary  and  capricious,  per- 
secution of  the  censorship,  writers  have  evolved  the  art  of 
telling  a  bitter  truth  by  means  of  satire  which  by  its  out- 
ward appearance  generally  escapes  the  scrutinising  attention 
of  the  usually  dull  censor,  but  the  esoteric  meaning  of  which 
is  quite  comprehensible  to  the  whole  class  of  readers.  In 
the  days  of  Peter  the  Great,  with  his  violent  reforms,  direct 
command  was  more  effective  than  a  satire  which  but  few 
could  unravel,  and  Kantemlr's  Satires,  in  spite  of  their 
literary  value,  are  mere  exotics.  Catherine  thought  this 
species  of  essays  a  good  medium  for  a  gentle  reproof,  but 
N6vikov  more  correctly  divined  their  ofl&ce,  and  much  later 
G6gol  and  Shchedrin  brought  them  to  great  perfection  along 
the  path  indicated  by  him. 

The  same  causes  which  prevented  the  formation  of  a  Rus- 
sian epic  and  of  lyric  poetry  throughout  the  greater  part  of 
the  eighteenth  century  militated  against  the  evolution  of  a 
native  tragedy.  Theatrical  performances  had  been  given 
ever  since  the  days  of  Alexis,  but  these  were  mainly  Mys- 
teries and  Moralities  that  had  long  been  forgotten  in  the 
West,  or  crude  plays  and  harlequinades  by  German,  Italian 
and  English  travelling  comedians.  Thus,  a  taste  had  been 
formed  for  the  drama  when  Sumar6kov  was  ordered  to 
organise  the  first  Russian  theatre,  though  there  did  not  ex- 
ist the  elements  for  a  native  stage.  Sumar6kov  furnished 
pseudo-classic  tragedies  as  readily  as  he  manufactured  any 
other  kind  of  poetry,  and  his  conceit  of  being  the  Russian 
Racine  indicates  whence  he  took  his  models.  Neither  Knya- 
zhnfn's  nor  Ozerov's  borrowing  of  incidents  from  Russian 
history  could  make  their  tragedies  real :  they  were  accessible 
only  to  those  who  were  steeped  in  French  culture.     Not  so 


36        A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature 

comedy.  Comedy  stands  in  direct  relation  to  satire,  and  it 
has  taken  firm  root  in  Russian  soil.  Catherine  herself  wrote 
a  number  of  dramatised  satires,  and  Fon-Vizin's  Brigadier 
made  its  appearance  just  as  satire  began  to  occupy  an  im- 
portant place  in  the  public  eye.  Fon-Vfzin,  Griboy^dov  and 
G6gol  are  only  the  greatest  of  the  long  series  of  dramatists, 
who  in  the  eighteenth  and  nineteenth  centuries  used  comedy 
as  a  weapon  for  attacking  the  corruption  of  officials,  super- 
ficiality in  education  and  the  brutality  of  the  serf -owners. 
Here  was  an  opportunity  to  introduce  a  native  element, 
which  becomes  for  the  first  time  prominent  in  Ablesimov's 
comic  opera. 

Though  Western  novels  reached  Russia  in  indifferent 
translations  long  before  the  end  of  Catherine's  reign,  yet 
there  was  no  proper  soil  for  them  until  Radfshchev  came 
under  the  influence  of  the  English  writers,  especially  of 
Sterne,  and  Karamzfn,  on  the  verge  of  the  century,  intro- 
duced sentimentalism  into  literature.  Throughout  the 
whole  eighteenth  century,  little  earnestness  was  shown  in 
literary  pursuits.  Prose  suffered  more  than  poetry,  for 
prose  demands  a  more  assiduous  and  constant  attention  than 
verse.  It  was  left  for  the  nineteenth  century  to  settle  the 
prose  diction  appropriate  to  the  Russian  language.  In  this 
neglect  of  cultivating  an  elegant  prose  style  is  to  be  found 
the  main  reason  for  a  very  extensive  literature  of  memoirs 
which  were  not  originally  meant  for  publication,  but  were 
intended  as  mere  records  for  the  use  of  posterity.  The 
restriction  of  free  speech  was  another  powerful  factor  in 
encouraging  this  species  of  historical  revelation.  In  these 
memoirs,  the  student  of  manners  and  history  and  literature 
will  find  much  better  material  for  a  correct  appreciation  of 
the  eighteenth  century  than  in  the  exotic  literature  of  the 
upper  classes.  The  emptiness  of  the  superficial  French  cult- 
ure, which  was  prevalent  in  Russia,  became  apparent  only 
to  those  who,  like  Tatfshchev,  Shcherbdtov,  and  N6vikov, 
busied  themselves  with  the  study  of  native  history.  The 
progress  which  histor>'  made  from  Tatfshchev  to  Karamzfn 
is  the  most  prominent  feature  in  the  evolution  of  the  native 


A  Sketch  of  Russian  Literature         37 

literature.  By  the  historians  was  laid  the  real  foundation 
for  a  native  science  and  interest  in  the  people.  It  was  quite 
natural  for  these  men  to  turn  away  from  the  disheartening 
corruption  of  manners  which  was  introduced  from  abroad, 
and  to  find  inspiration  in  their  own  past.  They,  conse- 
quently, were  the  first  Slavophiles,  though  as  yet  in  the 
gentler  sense  of  the  word.  They  did  not  preach  a  turning 
away  from  European  culture,  as  did  their  later  spiritual 
descendants,  but  a  more  organic  welding  of  the  new  life  with 
the  Russian  reality. 


THE  OLDEST  PERIOD 


39 


THE  OLDEST  PERIOD 
Treaty  with  the  Greeks    (911) 

Nestor's  Chronicle  contains  three  treaties  made  with  the  Greeks  in 
the  tenth  century.  It  is  evident,  from  the  manner  of  their  composi- 
tion, that  the  chronicler  quoted  some  extant  documents  which  were 
probably  translated  by  some  Bulgarian  from  the  original  Greek. 
These  treaties  are  interesting  as  being  the  earliest  specimens  of 
writing  in  Russia  and  as  having  been  composed  before  the  introduc- 
tion of  Christianity. 

WE  of  the  Russian  nation,  Karly,  Inegeld,  Farlof,  Vere- 
mud,  Rulav,  Gudy,  Ruald,  Karn,  Frelav,  Ryuar, 
Aktevu,  Truan,  Lidulfost,  Stemid,  who  were  sent  by  Olig, 
the  Russian  Grand  Prince,  and  the  illustrious  boydrs  who 
are  under  his  rule,  to  you,  Leo  and  Alexander  and  Constan- 
tine,  the  Greek  Emperors  and  great  autocrats  by  the  grace 
of  God,  to  confirm  and  proclaim  the  amity  which  has  existed 
for  many  years  between  the  Christians  and  Russians,  by  the 
will  of  our  princes  and  by  the  order  of  all  those  in  Russia 
who  are  under  his  rule.  Our  illustrious  Prince  has  often 
thought,  more  persistently  than  the  others  who  have  de- 
sired to  maintain  and  proclaim  the  amity  in  God  which  has 
been  between  Christians  and  Russia,  that  not  only  with  mere 
words,  but  also  in  writing  and  with  a  solemn  oath  made  over 
our  armour,  ought  such  amity  be  proclaimed  and  confirmed, 
according  to  our  faith  and  law.  The  following  are  the 
articles  that  we  wish  to  establish  in  the  faith  of  God  and  in 
love: 

In  the  first  place,  we  will  make  an  agreement  with  you 
Greeks  to  love  each  other  with  our  souls  and  as  much  as  is 
in  our  power,  and  we  will  not  permit,  as  far  as  is  in  our 

41 


42  The  Oldest  Period 

power,  that  harm  or  damage  be  done  to  any  of  you  by  those 
who  are  under  the  rule  of  our  illustrious  princes,  but  we 
will  try,  according  to  our  ability,  to  preserve  for  ever  and 
ever,  unbroken  and  undisturbed,  the  amity  which  we  profess 
both  in  words  and  in  writing  under  oath.  Likewise  you 
Greeks  shall  preserve  the  same  love  to  our  illustrious  Rus- 
sian princes  and  to  all  who  are  under  the  rule  of  our  illus- 
trious Prince  unpolluted  and  unchanged  for  ever  and  all  time. 

Under  the  head  which  is  called  damages  we  will  agree  as 
follows:  Whatever  may  be  made  manifest  in  regard  to  a 
grievance,  let  the  information  of  such  grievance  be  accurate, 
and  let  not  him  be  believed  who  begins  the  action ;  and  let 
not  that  party  take  an  oath  if  he  deserve  no  belief;  but  if 
one  swear  according  to  his  religion,  let  there  be  a  punish- 
ment if  perjury  be  found. 

If  a  Russian  kill  a  Christian,  or  a  Christian  a  Russian,  let 
him  die  where  the  murder  has  been  committed.  If  he  who 
has  committed  murder  run  away,  then  if  he  be  possessed  of 
property,  let  the  nearest  in  kin  to  the  murdered  person  re- 
ceive that  part  which  is  his  by  law,  and  let  the  wife  of  the 
murderer  have  as  much  as  belongs  to  her  by  law.  If  he  who 
has  committed  the  murder  be  destitute  and  have  run  away, 
let  the  case  stand  against  him  until  he  be  found,  and  then 
he  shall  die. 

If  anyone  strike  another  with  a  sword  or  beat  him  with  a 
drinking  vessel,  let  him  for  such  striking  or  beating  pay  five 
litras  of  silver  according  to  the  Russian  law.  If  the  offender 
be  destitute,  let  him  pay  as  much  as  he  can,  and  let  him 
take  oflF  his  upper  garment  which  he  wears,  and  besides  let 
him  swear  according  to  his  religion  that  there  is  no  one  to 
help  him,  and  let  the  case  against  him  forthwith  be  dropped. 

If  a  Russian  steal  something  from  a  Christian,  or  a 
Christian  from  a  Russian,  and  the  thief  at  the  time  when  he 
commits  the  theft  be  caught  by  him  who  has  lost  the  article, 
and  the  thief  struggle  and  be  killed,  let  not  his  death  be 
avenged  by  either  Christians  or  Russians,  but  let  him  who 
has  lost  take  back  what  belongs  to  him.  If  a  Russian  de- 
spoil a  Christian,  or  a  Christian  a  Russian,  by  torture  or  by 


Treaty  with  the  Greeks  43 

a  show  of  force,  or  if  he  take  anything  away  from  a  member 
of  the  druzhina,  let  him  pay  back  threefold. 

If  a  boat  be  cast  by  a  great  wind  upon  a  strange  shore, 
where  there  be  any  of  our  Russians,  and  someone  come  to 
furnish  the  boat  with  its  belongings,  we  will  take  the  boat 
through  all  dangerous  places  until  it  has  smooth  sailing. 
If  such  a  boat  cannot  be  returned  to  its  place,  on  account  of 
storm  or  impassable  places,  we  Russians  shall  see  the  oars- 
men off  safe  with  their  goods,  if  the  accident  happens  near 
Greek  land.  But  if  the  same  happen  near  Russian  land,  we 
will  take  the  boat  to  Russian  territory,  and  let  them  sell  the 
belongings  of  the  boat  and  what  else  of  the  boat  they  can 
sell,  and  when  we  Russians  shall  go  to  Greece,  with  mer- 
chandise or  with  an  embassy  to  your  Emperor,  the  proceeds 
from  the  sale  of  the  belongings  of  the  boat  shall  be  forwarded 
without  hindrance.  Should  any  man  of  the  boat  be  killed, 
or  beaten,  by  us  Russians,  or  should  anything  be  taken 
away,  the  wrongdoers  shall  be  punished  as  above. 

Should  a  Russian  slave  be  stolen,  or  run  away,  or  be  sold 
by  force,  and  a  Russian  make  complaint  of  it,  and  the  fact 
be  ascertained  in  regard  to  the  slave,  then  let  him  be  re- 
turned to  Russia.  And  if  the  merchants  should  lose  a  slave 
and  make  complaint  thereof,  let  them  search  for  him  and  let 
him  be  returned;  should  anyone  prevent  making  such  a 
search,  then  the  local  magistrate  shall  be  responsible  for 
him. 

If  a  criminal  should  return  to  Greece  from  Russia,  let 
Russia  institute  a  complaint  to  the  Christian  Empire,  and 
let  the  same  be  returned  to  Russia,  even  against  his  will. 

All  these  things  the  Russians  are  to  do  to  the  Greeks, 
wherever  such  things  may  happen.  To  make  the  peace 
established  between  the  Christians  and  Russians  firm  and 
lasting,  we  ordered  this  document  to  be  written  by  John 
upon  two  charts  and  to  be  signed  by  the  Emperor's  and  our 
own  hand  before  the  blessed  cross  and  in  the  name  of  the 
holy  Trinity  and  our  one,  true  God,  and  to  be  proclaimed 
and  to  be  delivered  to  our  ambassadors.  And  we  have 
sworn  to  your  Emperor  according  to  the  law  and  custom  of 


44  The  Oldest  Period 

our  nation,  as  being  God's  own  creatures,  not  to  depart,  or 
let  anyone  else  of  our  land  depart,  from  the  established  treaty 
of  peace  and  amity.  This  document  we  gave  to  your  Empire 
in  order  to  confirm  the  treaty  on  both  sides  and  to  confirm 
and  proclaim  the  peace  in  your  country,  September  the 
second,  the  fifteenth  week,  in  the  year  from  the  creation  of 
the  world  6024  (911). 

Lukd  Zhidy^ta.    (First  half  of  XI.  century.) 

Lukd  Zhidydta  or  Zhirydta,  was  bishop  of  N6vgorod  from  1036- 
1060.  All  we  have  from  him  is  his  Instruction,  which  is  written  in  a 
coarse,  unadorned  style,  and  is  nothing  more  than  a  sententious 
statement  of  gospel  teachings.  The  N6vgorod  style,  as  it  appears  in 
its  chronicles,  is  always  laconic  and  businesslike.  Zhidydta  was  evid- 
ently instructing  a  congregation  that  had  not  long  been  converted 
and  that  was  not  yet  firm  in  the  fundamental  teachings  of  Christianity. 

INSTRUCTION  TO  HIS  CONGREGATION 

Above  all,  brothers,  we  Christians  must  keep  the  command 
to  believe  in  one  God  who  is  worshipped  in  the  Trinity,  in 
the  Father,  the  Son,  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  as  the  holy 
apostles  have  taught,  and  the  holy  fathers  have  confirmed. 
I  believe  in  one  God,  and  so  forth.  Believe  also  in  the 
resurrection,  and  the  eternal  life,  and  the  everlasting  tor- 
ment of  the  sinful.  Be  not  slow  in  going  to  church,  and  to 
the  morning,  noon  and  evening  masses.  When  you  are 
about  to  lie  down  in  your  room,  make  your  obeisance  to 
God.  Stand  in  church  in  the  fear  of  the  Lord,  speak  not, 
nor  think  of  worldly  matters,  but  pray  to  God  with  all  your 
thought  that  He  may  forgive  you  your  sins.  Live  in  friend- 
ship with  all  men,  but  particularly  with  your  brothers,  and 
let  there  not  be  one  thing  in  your  hearts,  and  another  upon 
your  lips.  Dig  not  a  grave  under  your  brother,  lest  God 
throw  you  into  a  worse  one.  Be  righteous,  and  flinch  not 
from  laying  down  your  head  for  the  sake  of  truth  and  God's 
Law,  that  God  may  count  you  among  the  saints.  Be  patient 
with  your  brothers  and  with  other  men,  and  do  not  repay 
evil  for  evil;  praise  each  other  that  God  may  praise  you. 


Luk4  Zhidyata  45 

Cause  no  strife  that  you  may  not  be  called  a  son  of  the 
devil,  but  make  peace  that  you  may  be  a  son  of  God.  Judge 
your  brother  neither  in  speech,  nor  in  thought,  but  think  of 
your  own  sins,  that  God  may  not  judge  you.  Be  thought- 
ful and  merciful  to  strangers,  to  the  poor  and  to  prisoners, 
and  be  merciful  to  your  servants.  It  is  not  proper  for  you, 
O  brothers,  to  have  devilish  games,  nor  to  speak  unseemly 
words.  Be  not  angry,  and  rail  not  at  anyone ;  in  danger  be 
patient  and  rely  upon  God.  Rave  not,  be  not  haughty;  re- 
member that  to-morrow  we  shall  be  stench  and  worms.  Be 
humble  and  gentle,  and  obediently  do  the  commands  of  God, 
for  in  the  heart  of  the  proud  sits  the  devil,  and  the  word  of 
God  will  not  stick  to  him.  Honour  old  people  and  your 
parents.  Swear  not  in  the  name  of  God,  nor  curse  anyone 
else,  nor  swear  by  him.  Judge  rightly,  receive  no  reward, 
give  not  in  usury.  Fear  God,  honour  the  Prince ;  first  serve 
the  lyord,  then  your  master.  With  all  your  heart  honour 
the  priest  of  God,  and  honour  the  servants  of  the  Church. 
Kill  not,  steal  not,  lie  not,  bear  not  false  witness,  hate  not, 
envy  not,  calumniate  not  .  .  .,  drink  not  out  of  season 
to  intoxication,  but  in  measure.  Be  not  angry,  nor  harsh. 
Rejoice  with  those  who  rejoice,  and  be  sad  with  the  sad. 
Do  not  eat  abominations;  celebrate  the  holy  days.  The 
peace  of  the  Lord  be  with  you.     Amen ! 

The  Russian  Code.    (XI.  century.) 

The  first  draught  of  the  Russian  Code,  or  the  R'&sskaya  Prdvda,  as  it 
is  called  in  Russian,  is  ascribed  to  Yarosldv  the  Wise,  the  son  of 
Vladimir,  Grand  Prince  of  Kiev.  He  is  supposed  to  have  given  it  to 
the  N6vgorodians,  whose  Prince  he  had  been,  for  their  active  partici- 
pation in  the  war  that  he  waged  against  Svyatop6lk  in  order  to  main- 
tain himself  on  the  Kiev  throne.  This  Code  is  the  oldest  extant 
among  all  the  Slavs.  It  was  evidently  borrowed  from  the  laws  of  the 
Scandinavians,  and  in  most  points  almost  coincides  with  the  old 
English  laws  of  the  same  period.  This  is  not  surprising,  for  the 
druzhina  was  originally  composed  of  Norsemen  ;  besides,  Yarosldv 
stood  in  direct  communication  with  the  west  of  Europe :  thus,  one 
of  his  daughters  was  married  to  Harald  of  Norway  ;  another  was  the 
wife  of  Andrew,  King  of  Hungary;  a  third  was  married  to  Henry  of 
France ;  and  two  of  his  sons  had  taken  German  princesses  for  wives. 


46  The  Oldest  Period 

If  a  man '  kill  a  man,  let  him  be  avenged  by  his  brother, 
or  father,  or  son,  or  nephew.  If  there  is  no  one  to  avenge 
him,  let  the  price  on  his  head  be  70  grivnas,'  if  he  be  a 
prince's  man,  or  a  prince's  thane's '  man.  If  he  be  a  Russ,* 
or  henchman,  or  merchant,  or  a  boydr's  thane,  or  swords- 
man,* or  hapless  man,*  or  Slovene,*  let  the  price  on  his  head 
be  40  grivnas.  After  Yarosldv,  his  sons  Izyasldv,  Svyatosldv, 
Vs^volod,  and  their  men  Kusnydchko,  Pereny^g,  and  Niki- 
f6r,  came  together  and  did  away  with  the  blood  revenge,  but 
substituted  weregild  for  it,  but  in  everything  else  his  sons 
left  as  Yarosldv  had  decreed. 

If  one  strike  another  with  the  unsheathed  sword,  or  with 
the  haft,  the  prince's  fine '  for  the  ofiFence  is  12  grivnas.  If 
one  strike  another  with  a  rod,  or  cup,  or  horn,  or  the  blunt 
edge  of  a  sword,  also  12  grivnas;  but  if  the  offence  be  com- 
mitted in  warding  off^  a  sword  blow,  he  shall  not  be  fined. 
If  one  strike  a  man's  hand,  and  the  hand  fall  off,  or  dry  up, 
or  if  he  cut  off  a  foot,  or  eye,  or  nose,  the  fine  is  20  grivnas, 
and  ID  grivnas  to  the  maimed  man.  If  one  cut  off  another 
man's  finger,  3  grivnas  fine,  and  to  the  maimed  man  one 
grivna  of  ktinas. 

If  a  bloodstained  or  bruised  man  comes  to  the  court,  he 

*That  is,  an  older  member  of  the  prioce's  drazhina,  also  called 
boydrs  ;  the  younger  members  were  called  hrid,  i.  e.,  Norse  *'  hirdr,'* 
henchman,  or  youth,  or  simply  druzhina. 

*  A  grivna  was  originally  a  unit  of  weight,  about  a  pound,  then 
only  half  a  pound,  and  less.  About  seven  griimas  of  kUnas  were 
equal  to  0x1% grivna  of  silver  ;  a  kiina  means  "marten's  skin,"  which 
formed  the  smaller  denomination  of  money  ;  one  grivna  was  equal  to 
twenty  nog&tas. 

*The  Russian  is  ti&n^  which  is  the  Norse  tjonn  ;  the  Old  English 
thane  is  of  the  same  origin  and  has  almost  the  same  significance. 

*  A  Russ  was  a  Scandinavian  who  did  not  bear  arms ;  a  Scandi- 
navian who  bore  arms  was  a  Varydg. 

*The  prince's  guardsman  and  inspector  of  the  sword  trial. 

•A  "hapless  man"  was  more  particularly  applied  to  a  son  of  a 
priest  who  could  not  read,  a  freedman,  an  indebted  merchant,  all 
Russians  at  the  death  of  a  prince. 

■•  Inhabitants  of  N6vgorod. 

'  The  fine  was  paid  to  the  prince's  treasury. 


The  Russian  Code  47 

need  not  bring  any  witnesses,  but  the  fine  shall  be  4  grfvnas; 
but  if  he  have  no  marks  upon  him,  let  him  bring  a  witness. 
If  both  parties  complain,  let  him  who  has  begun  pay  6  kdnas. 
If  the  bloodstained  man  be  he  who  has  begun  the  quarrel, 
and  there  are  witnesses  to  the  quarrel,  let  his  bruises  be  his 
reward.'  If  one  strike  another  with  the  sword,  but  kill  him 
not,  the  fine  is  3  grivnas,  and  to  the  sufferer  a  grfvna  for  his 
wound  for  medicaments;  if  he  kill  him,  there  is  the  usual 
weregild.  If  a  man  pushes  another,  either  to  him,  or  from 
him,  or  strikes  him  in  his  face,  or  beats  him  with  a  rod,  and 
there  are  two  witnesses,  the  fine  is  3  grfvnas. 

If  one  mounts  another  man's  horse,  without  having  asked 
permission,  the  fine  is  3  grivnas.  If  one  loses  his  horse,  or 
arms,  or  wearing  apparel,  and  announces  his  loss  in  the 
market-place,  and  later  recognises  his  property  in  his  town, 
he  may  take  it  back,  and  the  fine  of  3  grfvnas  is  paid  to  him. 
If  one  recognises  what  he  has  lost,  or  has  been  stolen  from 
him,  either  a  horse,  or  apparel,  or  cattle,  let  him  not  say: 
"  This  is  mine!  "  but  let  him  go  before  the  judge  who  will 
ask :  ' '  Where  did  you  get  that  ? ' '  and  the  fine  will  be  on 
him  who  is  guilty ;  and  then  he  will  take  that  which  belongs 
to  him,  and  the  fine  shall  be  likewise  paid  to  him.  If  it  be 
a  horse-thief,  let  him  be  turned  over  to  the  prince  for  banish- 
ment; if  it  be  a'shop-thief,  his  fine  shall  be  3  grfvnas. 

If  one  gives  money  on  interest,  or  money  as  a  loan,  or 
grain,  let  him  have  witnesses,  and  then  receive  as  has  been 
agreed. 

If  a  hired  servant  runs  away  from  his  master,  he  becomes 
a  slave;  but  if  he  goes  to  collect  his  money,  and  does  so 
openly,  or  runs  to  the  prince  or  the  judges  on  account  of 
injury  done  him  by  his  master,  he  is  not  enslaved,  but  gets 
his  right. 

If  a  master  has  a  farm  servant,  and  his  war  horse  be  lost, 
the  servant  shall  not  pay  for  it ;  but  if  his  master  gives  him, 
who  receives  his  measure  of  grain,  a  plough  and  harrow,  he 

'  That  is,  if  the  bruised  man  make  complaint,  and  it  be  found  that 
he  had  started  the  quarrel,  he  receives  no  monetary  reward  for  his 
bruises,  but  has  justly  been  punished  by  his  wounds. 


48  The  Oldest  Period 

shall  pay  for  any  damage  to  them.  But  if  the  master  sends 
him  on  his  own  business,  and  they  be  damaged  while  he  is 
away,  he  shall  not  pay  for  them. 

If  a  free  peasant  assault  another  without  the  prince's  per- 
mission, the  fine  is  3  grfvnas  to  the  prince,  and  one  grlvna 
of  ktinas  for  the  wounds.  If  he  assault  a  prince's  or  boydr's 
man,  the  fine  is  1 2  grivnas,  and  a  grivna  for  the  wounds.  If 
one  steal  a  boat,  the  fine  is  6  klinas,  and  the  boat  is  to  be  re- 
turned; for  a  seafaring  boat,  3  grivnas,  and  for  a  warboat,  2 
grivnas;  for  a  smack,  8  ktinas,  and  for  a  barge,  a  grivna. 

If  ropes  be  cut  in  somebody's  hunting-ground,  the  fine 
shall  be  3  grivnas,  and  a  grivna  of  klinas  for  the  ropes.  If 
one  steal  in  the  hunting-ground  a  falcon,  or  hawk,  the  fine 
is  3  grivnas,  and  to  the  owner  one  grivna;  for  a  dove-9 
kdnas,  for  a  chicken-9  ktinas,  for  a  duck-20  kiinas,  for  a 
goose-20  ktinas,  for  a  swan-20  kunas,  and  for  a  crane-20 
klinas.  And  if  hay  or  timber  be  stolen-9  ktinas,  and  the 
owner  receives  2  nog^tas  for  each  waggonload  stolen. 

In  one  puts  fire  to  a  bam,  he  is  to  be  banished  and  his 
house  confiscated;  first  the  damage  is  to  be  made  good,  and 
then  the  prince  shall  banish  him.  The  same,  if  he  put  fire 
to  a  house.  And  who  maliciously  injures  a  horse  or  beast, 
the  fine  is  12  grivnas,  and  for  the  damage  one  grivna. 

Ilari6n,  Metropolitan  of  Kiev.    (XI.  century.) 

Hilarion  (in  Russian  Ilari6n)  was  made  metropolitan  of  Kiev  in 
1050.  An  extant  sermon,  to  which  is  added  the  Eulogy  on  St.  Vla- 
dimir B.r\A.  Exposition  0/  Faith,  witnesses  to  his  acquaintance  with 
classical  Greek,  and  is  one  of  the  best  examples  of  ancient  Russian 
pulpit  eloquence. 

EULOGY  ON  ST.   VLADIMIR 

Rome  sings  the  praises  of  Peter  and  Paul,  through  whom 
it  believes  in  Jesus  Christ,  the  Son  of  God;  Asia,  Ephesus 
and  Patmos  praise  John  the  Theologue;  India,  Thomas; 
Eg3^t,  Mark.  All  countries  and  cities  and  men  honour 
and  glorify  their  teacher  who  has  taught  them  the  orthodox 
faith.     Let  us  also,  according  to  our  power,  praise  with 


Ilari6n  49 

humble  praises  our  teacher  and  instructor,  who  has  done 
great  and  wondrous  things,  the  great  Khan  of  our  land, 
Vladimir,  the  grandson  of  old  Igor,  the  son  of  the  glorious 
Svyatosldv,  who  ruling  their  days  in  courage  and  valour 
have  become  famous  in  many  lands,  and  are  remembered 
and  honoured  even  now  for  their  victories  and  power,  for 
they  did  not  rule  in  a  poor  and  unknown  country,  but  in 
Russia,  which  is  known  and  celebrated  in  all  the  corners  of 
the  earth. 

A  good  testimony  to  your  piety,  O  blissful  one,  is  that  holy 
church  of  St.  Mary,  the  Mother  of  God,  which  you  have 
builded  on  an  orthodox  foundation,  and  where  your  valiant 
body  now  resteth,  awaiting  the  archangel's  trumpets.  A 
very  good  and  fine  testimony  is  also  your  son  George  whom 
God  has  made  an  heir  to  your  power,  who  does  not  destroy 
your  institutions,  but  confirms  them ;  who  does  not  diminish 
the  benefactions  of  your  piety,  but  increases  them;  who  does 
not  spoil  but  mend,  who  finishes  what  you  have  left  un- 
finished, as  Solomon  has  completed  the  works  of  David; 
who  has  builded  a  large  and  holy  God's  temple  to  His  All- 
wisdom,  to  sanctify  your  city;  who  has  embellished  it  with 
all  beautiful  things,  with  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones 
and  sacred  vessels,  so  that  the  church  is  a  wonder  to  all  sur- 
rounding lands,  and  so  that  no  like  can  be  found  in  all  the 
north,  from  east  to  west;  who  has  surrounded  your  famous 
city  of  Kiev  with  grandeur  as  with  a  crown ;  who  has  turned 
over  3'our  people  and  city  to  the  holy,  all-glorious  Mother  of 
God ;  who  is  ever  ready  to  succour  Christians,  and  for  whom 
he  has  builded  a  church  with  golden  doors  in  the  name  of  the 
first  holiday  of  the  Lord  of  the  Holy  Annunciation,  so  that 
the  kiss  which  the  archangel  will  give  to  the  Virgin  may 
also  be  on  this  city.  To  Her  he  says:  "  Rejoice,  blissful 
one,  the  Lord  is  with  you!"  but  to  the  city:  "Rejoice, 
faithful  city,  the  Lord  is  with  you!  " 

Arise,  honoured  dead,  from  your  grave!  Arise,  shake 
off  your  sleep,  for  you  are  not  dead,  but  sleep  to  the  day  of 
the  common  resurrection.  Arise !  You  are  not  dead,  for  it 
is  not  right  for  you  to  die,  who  have  believed  in  Christ  who 

VOL.   I.— 4. 


50  The  Oldest  Period 

is  the  life  of  the  whole  world.  Shake  off  your  sleep,  lift  your 
eyes,  that  you  may  see  with  what  honours  the  Lord  has 
showered  you  above,  and  how  you  live  unforgotten  upon 
earth  through  your  son !  Arise !  Look  at  your  son  George, 
see  your  entrails,  your  beloved  one,  see  him  whom  God  has 
brought  out  of  your  loins,  see  him  adorning  the  throne  of 
your  land,  and  rejoice,  and  be  glad!  Then  also  see  your 
pious  daughter-in-law  Ir6na,  see  your  grandchildren,  and 
great-grandchildren,  how  they  live  and  are  cared  for  by  God, 
how  they  keep  your  piety  according  to  your  tradition,  how 
they  partake  of  the  sacrament  of  the  holy  church,  how  they 
praise  Christ,  how  they  bow  before  His  name !  See  also  your 
city  beaming  in  its  grandeur !  See  your  blossoming  churches, 
see  the  growing  Christianity,  see  the  city  gleaming  in  its 
adornment  of  saintly  images,  and  fragrant  with  thyme,  and 
re-echoing  with  hymns  and  divine,  sacred  songs !  And  see- 
ing all  this,  rejoice  and  be  glad,  and  praise  the  good  God, 
the  creator  of  all  this. 

Vladimir  Monomdkh  (Monomachos).    (1053-1125.) 

Vladimir  was  Grand  Prince  of  Kiev  from  1113-1125,  As  his  In- 
struction to  his  Children  shows,  and  as  the  chronicles  witness,  he  was 
a  very  learned  man  for  his  time.  From  the  letters  of  the  metropoli- 
tan Nikifdr  to  the  Prince  we  also  learn  that  he  strictly  carried  out  the 
roles  which  he  brought  to  the  attention  of  his  posterity :  he  often 
slept  on  the  ground,  discarded  sumptuous  garments,  and  only  on  rare 
occasions  wore  the  insignia  of  his  oflBce.  He  was  well  versed  in 
Byzantine  literature,  for  his  Instruction  is  not  only  after  the  fashion 
of  older  Byzantine  Testaments,  but  many  passages  are  taken  directly 
from  the  writings  of  Basil  the  Great.  This  Instruction  is  one  of  the 
most  remarkable  productions  of  early  Russian  literature,  especially 
on  account  of  the  liberal  spirit  that  pervades  it,  as  compared,  for  ex- 
ample, with  a  similar,  somewhat  earlier  document  by  St.  Stephen  of 
Hungary.  This  latter  fact  has  served  the  Slavophiles  as  an  import- 
ant argument  for  the  superiority  of  the  Slavic  spirit  over  that  of  the 
west  of  Europe.  The  Instruction  is  included  in  Nestor's  Chronicle 
under  the  year  1096,  but  it  has  been  conclusively  proved  that  it  is  the 
work  of  Vladimir.  Parts  of  the  Instruction  are  translated  in  A.  P. 
Stanley's  Lectures  on  the  History  of  the  Eastern  Church,  London, 
1861  (and  often  afterwards),  and  in  N.  H.  Dole's  Young  Folks'  His- 
tory 0/ Russia,  Chicago,  1895. 


Vladimir  Monomakh  51 

HIS  INSTRUCTION  TO  HIS   CHILDREN 

Being  ill  and  about  to  seat  myself  in  the  sleigh,*  I  have 
considered  in  my  soul  and  have  praised  God  for  having  pre- 
served me,  sinful  man,  to  this  day.  Do  not  make  light  of 
this  instruction,  my  children,  or  anyone  else  who  may  hear 
it,  but  if  it  please  any  of  you  children,  take  it  to  heart,  and 
give  up  indolence,  and  begin  to  work. 

Above  all,  for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  and  your  own  souls, 
have  the  fear  of  the  Lord  in  your  hearts  by  doing  unstinted 
charity,  for  that  is  the  beginning  of  all  good.  If  this  in- 
struction should  not  please  any  of  you,  be  not  angry  but  say 
thus:  "  Starting  out  on  a  distant  journey  and  about  to  seat 
himself  in  the  sleigh,  he  spoke  this  insipidity." 

My  brothers'  messengers  met  me  on  the  V61ga  and  said: 
"  Hasten  to  us  that  we  may  drive  out  the  sons  of  Rostisldv,' 
and  take  away  their  patrimony,  and  if  you  go  not  with  us, 
we  shall  stand  alone,  and  you  will  be  alone."  And  I  said: 
"  Even  though  you  may  be  angry,  I  cannot  go  with  you 
and  transgress  the  cross."  And  having  sent  them  away,  I 
picked  up  a  psalter  in  my  sorrow,  opened  it,  and  these  words 
were  before  me :  '  *  Why  are  you  sad,  my  soul  ?  Why  are  you 
grieved  ?  "  and  so  forth.  And  then  I  picked  out  words  here 
and  there,  and  put  them  in  order,  and  I  wrote:  "  If  the  lat- 
ter things  do  not  please  you,  accept  the  former.     .     .     .     " 

Forsooth,  my  children,  consider  how  kind  and  overkind 
God,  the  lover  of  men,  is.  We  men,  who  are  sinful  and 
mortal,  wish  to  avenge  ourselves  and  immediately  to  spill 
the  blood  of  him  who  has  done  us  any  wrong;  but  our  Lord, 
who  rules  over  life  and  death,  suffers  our  transgressions 
above  our  heads,  nay  to  the  very  end  of  our  lives,  like  a 
father,  now  loving,  now  chastising  his  child,  and  again 
fondling  it.  Our  Lord  has  likewise  shown  us  how  to  be 
victorious  over  our  foe,  how  to  assuage  and  conquer  him 
with  three  good  acts:  with  repentance,  tears  and  charity. 
It  is  not  hard,  my  children,  to  keep  this  command  of  the 

*  Karatnzin  remarks  that  the  dead  were  always  taken  away  in 
sleighs,  whether  in  winter  or  summer. 
'  Voloddr,  Prince  of  Peremyshl,  and  Vasilko,  Prince  of  Tereb<5vl. 


52  The  Oldest  Period 

Lord,  and  you  can  rid  yourselves  of  your  sins  by  those  three 
acts,  and  you  will  not  forfeit  the  kingdom  of  heaven.  And, 
I  beg  you,  be  not  slack  in  the  performance  of  the  Lord's 
commands,  and  do  not  forget  those  three  acts,  for  neither 
solitude,  nor  monkhood,  nor  hunger,  such  as  many  good 
people  suffer,  is  hard  to  bear,  but  with  a  small  act  you  may 
gain  the  favour  of  the  Lord.  What  is  man  that  Thou 
shouldst  remember  him  ? 

Thou  art  great,  O  Lord,  and  Thy  works  are  wonderful, 
and  human  understanding  cannot  grasp  all  Thy  miracles! 
And  again  we  say :  Thou  art  great,  O  Lord,  and  Thy  works 
are  wonderful,  and  Thy  name  be  blessed  and  praised  for 
ever  and  through  all  the  earth !  For  who  would  not  praise 
and  glorify  Thy  power  and  Thy  great  miracles  and  goodness 
that  are  evident  in  this  world:  how  by  Thy  wisdom  the 
heaven  is  builded,  how  the  sun,  the  moon,  the  stars,  dark- 
ness and  light,  and  the  earth  is  placed  on  the  waters,  O 
Lord!  How  the  various  animals,  birds  and  fishes  are 
adorned  by  Thy  foresight,  O  Lord !  And  we  also  wonder  at 
the  miracle,  how  that  He  has  created  man  from  the  dust, 
how  different  the  forms  of  human  faces  are,  how  if  you  look 
at  the  whole  world,  you  will  not  find  all  made  in  one  image, 
but  the  face  of  each  according  to  God's  wisdom.  And  we 
wonder  also  how  the  birds  of  the  sky  come  from  the  south, 
and  do  not  remain  in  one  country,  but  both  the  weak  and  the 
strong  fly  to  all  lands,  by  the  will  of  God,  in  order  to  fill  the 
woods  and  fields.  All  these  God  has  given  for  the  use  of 
man,  for  food  and  enjoyment. 

Listen  to  me,  and  if  you  will  not  accept  all,  heed  at  least 
half.  If  God  should  mollify  your  hearts,  shed  tears  over 
your  sins  and  say:  "As  Thou  hast  shown  mercy  to  the 
harlot,  the  murderer  and  the  publican,  even  thus  show  mercy 
to  us  sinners. ' '  Do  this  in  church  and  when  you  lie  down  to 
sleep.  Fail  not  to  do  so  a  single  night.  If  you  can,  make 
your  obeisance  to  the  ground ;  if  your  strength  gives  out,  do 
it  thrice;  in  any  case,  be  not  slack  in  it,  for  with  this  nightly 
obeisance  and  singing  man  conquers  the  devil  and  frees  him- 
self from  the  sins  he  has  committed  during  the  day. 


Vladimir  Monomikh  53 

When  you  are  riding  and  have  no  engagement  with  any- 
one, and  you  know  no  other  prayer,  keep  on  repeating 
secretly:  "  Lord,  have  mercy  upon  me!  "  for  it  is  better  to 
say  this  prayer  than  to  think  idle  things.  Above  all,  forget 
not  the  destitute,  but  feed  them  according  to  your  means, 
and  give  to  the  orphan,  and  protect  the  widow,  and  allow 
not  the  strong  to  oppress  the  people.  Slay  neither  the 
righteous,  nor  the  wrongdoer,  nor  order  him  to  be  slain 
who  is  guilty  of  death,  and  do  not  ruin  a  Christian 
soul. 

Whenever  you  speak,  whether  it  be  a  bad  or  a  good  word, 
swear  not  by  the  I^ord,  nor  make  the  sign  of  the  cross,  for 
there  is  no  need.  If  you  have  occasion  to  kiss  the  cross  with 
your  brothers  or  with  anyone  else,  first  inquire  your  heart 
whether  you  will  keep  the  promise,  then  kiss  it;  and  having 
kissed  it,  see  to  it  that  you  do  not  transgress,  and  your  soul 
perish.  As  for  the  bishops,  priests  and  abbots,  receive  their 
benediction  in  love,  and  do  not  keep  away  from  them,  but 
love  them  with  all  your  might,  and  provide  for  them,  that 
you  may  receive  their  prayers  to  God.  Above  all,  have  no 
pride  in  your  hearts  and  minds,  but  say:  "  We  are  mortal, 
alive  to-day,  and  to-morrow  in  the  grave.  All  that  Thou 
hast  given  us,  is  not  ours,  but  Thine,  and  Thou  hast  en- 
trusted it  to  us  for  but  a  few  days."  Put  away  no  treasure 
in  the  earth,  for  that  is  a  great  sin. 

Honour  the  elders  as  your  father,  and  the  younger  ones  as 
your  brothers.  Be  not  slack  in  your  houses,  but  watch 
everything:  Do  not  rely  upon  your  thane,  nor  your  servant, 
lest  those  who  come  to  see  you  should  make  light  of  your 
house  and  of  your  dinner.  If  you  start  out  to  a  war,  be  not 
slack,  depend  not  upon  your  generals,  nor  abandon  your- 
selves to  drinking  and  eating  and  sleeping.  Put  out  the 
guards  yourselves,  and  lie  down  to  sleep  only  after  you  have 
placed  the  guards  all  around  the  army,  and  rise  early.  Do 
not  take  off  your  armour  in  haste,  without  examination,  for 
man  perishes  suddenly  through  his  negligence.  Avoid 
lying  and  drunkenness  and  debauchery,  for  body  and  soul 
perish  from  them. 


54  The  Oldest  Period 

Whenever  you  travel  ov^r  your  lands,  permit  not  the  serv- 
ants, neither  your  own,  nor  a  stranger's,  to  do  any  damage 
in  the  villages,,  or  in  the  fields,  that  they  may  not  curse  you. 
Wheresoever  you  go,  and  wherever  you  stay,  give  the  desti- 
tute to  eat  and  to  drink.  Above  all  honour  the  stranger, 
whencesoever  he  may  come,  whether  he  be  a  commoner,  a 
nobleman  or  an  ambassador;  if  you  are  not  able  to  honour 
him  with  gifts,  give  him  food  and  drink,  for  these  travellers 
•will  proclaim  a  man  to  all  the  lands,  whether  he  be  good  or 
bad.  Call  on  the  sick,  go  to  funerals,  for  we  are  all  mortal, 
and  pass  not  by  a  man  without  greeting  him  with  kind 
words.     Love  your  wives,  but  let  them  not  rule  you. 

But  the  main  thing  is  that  you  should  keep  the  fear  of  the 
Lord  higher  than  anything  else.  If  you  should  forget  this, 
read  this  often;  then  shall  I  have  no  shame,  and  all  will  be 
well  with  you.  Whatever  good  you  know,  do  not  forget  it, 
and  what  you  do  not  know,  learn  it;  just  as  my  father  had 
learned,  staying  at  home,  five  languages,'  for  this  makes  one 
honoured  in  other  lands.  Indolence  is  the  mother  of  all 
vices:  what  one  knows,  one  forgets,  and  what  one  does  not 
know,  one  does  not  learn.  While  doing  good,  be  not  negli- 
gent in  any  good  act,  first  of  all  in  regard  to  the  Church. 
Let  not  the  sun  find  you  in  bed.  Thus  my  father  of  blessed 
memory  did,  and  thus  do  all  good,  perfect  men.  Having 
prayed  to  God  at  daybreak,  he,  noticing  the  rising  sun, 
praised  God  in  joy  and  said:  "Thou  hast  made  me  see, 
Christ,  O  Lord,  and  Thou  hast  given  me  this  beautiful 
light!"  and  again:  "Lord,  add  years  to  my  years  that  I 
may  repent  my  sins  and,  improving  my  life,  may  praise 
God."  And  thus  he  did  when  he  seated  himself  to  take 
counsel  with  the  druzhina,  or  to  judge  people,  or  when  he 
went  on  the  chase,  or  out  riding,  or  laid  himself  down  to 
sleep :  but  sleep  has  been  intended  by  the  Lord  for  the  after- 
noon, when  both  beasts  and  birds  and  men  rest  themselves. 

And  now  I  shall  tell  j'ou,  my  children,  of  my  labours 
■which  I  have  performed  either  in  my  expeditions  or  on  the 

'  Karamzln  surmises  that  he  knew  Greek,  Norse,  P61ovt8  (Ca- 
jnanian)  and  Hungarian,  besides  Russian. 


Vladimir  Monomakh  55 

chase  these  thirteen  years.  First  I  went  to  Rost6v '  through 
the  country  of  the  Vydtiches,"  whither  my  father  sent  me 
when  he  himself  went  to  Kursk ;  next  I  went  to  Smolensk 
[follows  an  account  of  his  expeditions].  .  .  .  Altogether 
I  have  made  eighty-three  long  journeys  and  I  cannot  recall 
how  many  shorter  ones.  I  have  made  peace  with  the 
Polovtses  twenty  times  lacking  one,  both  with  my  father 
and  without  him,  giving  away  much  of  my  cattle  and  gar- 
ments. I  have  liberated  from  their  shackles  royal  princes 
of  the  P61ovtses  as  follows    .     .     . 

I  have  undergone  many  hardships  in  the  chase.  Near 
Chernigov  I  have  with  my  own  hand  caught  ten  or  twenty 
wild  horses  in  the  forests,  and  I  have  besides  caught  else- 
where many  wild  horses  with  my  hands,  as  I  used  to  travel 
through  Russia.  Two  aurochses  threw  me  and  my  horse 
with  their  horns;  a  stag  butted  me  with  his  horns;  an  elk 
trampled  me  under  his  feet,  and  another  butted  me  with  his 
horns.  A  boar  took  away  the  sword  at  my  side;  a  bear  bit 
me  into  my  knee  covering;  a  grim  animal  [wolf]  leaped  at 
my  loins  and  threw  me  with  my  horse:  and  yet  God  has 
preserved  me.  I  have  often  fallen  from  my  horse,  I  twice 
injured  my  head  and  frequently  hurt  my  hands  and  feet  in 
my  youth,  being  reckless  of  my  life  and  not  sparing  my 
head.  Whatever  there  was  to  be  done  by  my  servants,  I 
did  myself,  in  war  and  in  the  chase,  in  daytime  and  at  night, 
in  the  summer  heat  and  in  winter,  without  taking  any  rest. 
I  depended  neither  on  the  pos^dniks  *  nor  the  heralds,  but 
did  all  myself,  and  looked  after  my  house.  In  the  chase  I 
looked  myself  after  the  hunting  outfit,  the  horses,  the 
falcons  and  the  sparrow-hawks.  Also  have  I  not  permitted 
the  mighty  to  offend  the  poor  peasants  and  the  destitute 
widows,  and  I  have  myself  looked  after  the  church  property 
and  the  divine  service. 

Think  not  ill  of  me,  my  children,  nor  anyone  else  who 
may  read  this,  for  I  do  not  boast  of  my  daring,  but  praise 

'  In  the  Government  of  Yarosldvl. 

'  A  Slavic  tribe  settled  on  the  river  Okd. 

'  Burgomasters. 


56  The  Oldest  Period 

God  and  proclaim  His  goodness  for  having  preserved  me,  sin- 
ful and  miserable  man,  for  so  many  years  from  the  hour  of 
death,  for  having  made  me,  miserable  one,  active  in  the  per- 
formance of  all  humane  acts.  Having  read  this  instruction, 
may  you  hasten  to  do  all  good  acts  and  praise  the  Lord  with 
His  saints.  Fear  neither  death,  my  children,  nor  war,  nor 
beast,  but  do  what  behooves  men  to  do,  whatever  God  may 
send  you.  Just  as  I  have  come  out  hale  from  war,  from  en- 
counters with  animals,  from  the  water,  and  from  my  falls, 
even  so  none  of  you  can  be  injured  or  killed,  if  it  be  not 
so  ordained  by  God.  And  if  death  come  from  the  I/)rd, 
neither  father,  nor  mother,  nor  brothers  can  save  you. 
Though  it  is  good  to  take  care  of  oneself,  yet  God's  protec- 
tion is  better  than  man's. 

Abbot  Daniel,  the  Palmer.  (Beginning  of  XII.  century.) 

Pilgrimages  to  the  Holy  Land  began  in  Russia  soon  after  the  intro- 
dnction  of  Christianity,  but  Daniel  the  abbot  is  the  first  who  has 
left  an  account  of  his  wanderings.  Nothing  is  known  of  the  life  of 
this  traveller,  but  from  internal  evidence  it  may  be  assumed  that  he 
visited  Palestine  soon  after  the  first  crusade,  from  1106-1108.  From 
his  mention  of  none  but  princes  of  the  south  of  Russia  it  is  quite  cer- 
tain that  he  himself  belonged  there.  In  a  simple,  unadorned  lan- 
guage, Daniel  tells  of  his  wanderings  from  Constantinople  to  the 
Holy  Land  and  back  again.  Characteristic  is  his  patriotic  affection 
for  the  whole  Russian  land  and  his  mention  of  all  the  Russian  princes 
in  his  prayers, — a  rather  surprising  sentiment  for  the  period  when 
Russia  was  nothing  but  a  heterogeneous  mass  of  appanages.  None 
of  the  Western  accounts  of  pilgrimages  to  Palestine  surpass  in  in- 
terest that  of  the  Russian  palmer  of  that  period,  if  they  at  all  equal  it. 

OF  THE  HOLY  LIGHT,  HOW  IT  DESCENDS  FROM 
HEAVEN  UPON  THE  HOLY  SEPULCHRE 

Here  is  what  God  has  shown  to  me.  His  humble  and  un- 
worthy servant,  Daniel  the  monk,  for  I  have  in  truth  seen 
with  my  own  sinful  eyes  how  the  holy  light  descends  on  the 
life-giving  grave  of  the  Lord  our  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ. 
Many  pilgrims  do  not  tell  rightly  about  the  descent  of  the 
holy  light:  for  some  say  that  the  Holy  Ghost  descends  to 


Abbot  Daniel  57 

the  Sepulchre  of  the  Lord  in  the  shape  of  a  dove,  and  others 
say  that  a  lightning  comes  down  and  lights  the  lamps  over 
the  Sepulchre  of  the  Lord.  But  that  is  not  true,  for  nothing 
is  to  be  seen,  neither  dove,  nor  lightning,  but  the  divine 
Grace  descends  invisibly,  and  the  lamps  over  the  Sepulchre 
of  the  Lord  are  lit  by  themselves.  I  shall  tell  about  it  just 
as  I  have  seen  it. 

On  Good-Friday  after  vespers  they  rub  the  Sepulchre  of 
the  Lord  clean,  and  wash  the  lamps  that  are  above  it,  and 
fill  them  with  pure  oil  without  water,  and  put  in  the  wicks 
which  are  not  lit,  and  the  Sepulchre  is  sealed  at  the  second 
hour  of  night.  And  not  only  these  lights,  but  those  in  all 
the  other  churches  in  Jerusalem  are  extinguished. 

On  that  very  Good-Friday  I,  humble  servant,  went  in  the 
first  hour  of  the  morning  to  Prince  Baldwin  and  made  a  low 
obeisance  to  him.  When  he  saw  me  making  the  obeisance, 
he  called  me  kindly  to  him  and  said  to  me:  "  What  do  you 
wish,  Russian  abbot?"  for  he  had  known  me  before  and 
loved  me  much,  being  a  good  and  simple  man,  and  not  in 
the  least  proud.  And  I  said  to  him:  "  Sir  Prince,  I  beg  you 
for  the  sake  of  the  Lord  and  the  Russian  princes,  let  me  also 
place  my  lamp  over  the  Holy  Sepulchre  for  all  our  princes 
and  for  all  the  Russian  land,  for  all  the  Christians  of  the 
Russian  land!  " 

The  Prince  gave  me  permission  to  place  my  lamp  there 
and  readily  sent  his  best  man  with  me  to  the  oekonomos  of 
the  Holy  Resurrection  and  to  him  who  has  charge  of  the 
Sepulchre.  Both  the  oekonomos  and  the  keeper  of  the  keys 
to  the  Holy  Sepulchre  ordered  me  to  bring  my  lamp  with 
the  oil.  I  bowed  to  them  with  great  joy,  and  went  to  the 
market-place  and  bought  a  large  glass  lamp  which  I  filled 
with  pure  oil  without  water,  and  carried  it  to  the  Sepulchre. 
It  was  evening  when  I  asked  for  the  keeper  of  the  keys  and 
announced  myself  to  him.  He  unlocked  the  door  of  the 
Sepulchre,  told  me  to  take  off  my  shoes,  and  led  me  bare- 
footed to  the  Sepulchre  with  the  lamp  which  I  carried  with 
my  sinful  hands.  He  told  me  to  place  the  lamp  on  the 
Sepulchre,  and  I  put  it  with  my  sinful  hands  there  where  are 


58  The  Oldest  Period 

the  illustrious  feet  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  At  his  head 
stood  a  Greek  lamp,  on  his  breast  was  placed  a  lamp  of  St. 
Sabbas  and  of  all  the  monasteries,  for  it  is  a  custom  to  place 
every  year  a  Greek  lamp  and  one  for  St.  Sabbas.  By  the 
grace  of  God  the  lower  lamps  lighted  themselves,  but  not  a 
single  one  of  the  lamps  of  the  Franks,  which  are  hung  up, 
was  lighted  up.  Having  placed  my  lamp  upon  the  Sepul- 
chre of  our  lyord  Jesus  Christ,  I  bowed  before  the  worshipful 
grave,  and  with  love  and  tears  kissed  the  holy  and  glorious 
place  where  lay  the  illustrious  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ. 
We  came  out  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre  with  great  joy,  and  went 
each  to  his  cell. 

Next  day,  on  the  Holy  Saturday,  in  the  sixth  hour  of  the 
day,  people  gather  before  the  church  of  the  Resurrection  of 
Christ;  there  is  an  endless  number  of  people  from  all  coun- 
tries, from  Babylon  and  Egypt  and  Antioch,  and  all  the 
places  about  the  church  and  about  the  crucifixion  of  the  Lord 
are  filled.  There  is  then  such  a  crowd  inside  and  outside 
the  church  that  many  are  crushed  while  waiting  with  unlit 
candles  for  the  church  doors  to  be  opened.  Within,  the 
priests  and  people  wait  until  Prince  Baldwin's  arrival  with 
his  suite,  and  when  the  doors  are  opened  all  the  people 
crowd  in,  and  fill  the  church,  and  there  is  a  large  gathering 
in  the  church  and  near  Golgotha  and  near  Calvary  and  there 
where  the  Lord's  cross  had  been  found.  All  the  people  say 
nothing  else,  but  keep  repeating:  "  Lord,  have  mercy  upon 
us ! "  and  weep  aloud  so  that  the  whole  place  reverberates 
and  thunders  with  the  cries  of  these  people.  The  faithful 
shed  rivers  of  tears,  and  if  a  man's  heart  were  of  stone,  he 
could  not  keep  from  weeping,  for  then  everybody  looks 
within  himself,  remembers  his  sins,  and  says:  "  Perchance 
on  account  of  my  sins  the  Holy  Ghost  will  not  descend ! ' ' 
And  thus  all  the  faithful  stand  with  tearful  countenances 
and  contrite  hearts.  Prince  Baldwin  himself  stands  there  in 
great  fear  and  humility,  and  a  torrent  of  tears  issues  from 
his  eyes ;  and  his  suite  stand  around  him,  opposite  the 
grave  and  near  the  great  altar. 

In  the  seventh  hour  of  the  Saturday  Prince  Baldwin 


Abbot  Daniel  59 

started  with  his  suite  from  home  for  the  Sepulchre,  and 
they  all  walked  barefooted.  The  Prince  sent  to  the  abbey 
of  St.  Sabbas  for  the  abbot  and  his  monks.  And  I  went 
with  the  abbot  and  the  monks  to  the  Prince,  and  we  all 
bowed  before  him.  He  returned  the  abbot's  greeting.  The 
Prince  ordered  the  abbot  of  St.  Sabbas  and  me,  humble 
servant,  to  come  near  him,  and  the  others  to  walk  before 
him,  but  the  suite  behind  him.  We  arrived  at  the  western 
doors  of  the  church  of  the  Lord's  Resurrection,  but  such  a 
mass  of  people  barred  the  way  that  I  could  not  enter.  Then 
Prince  Baldwin  ordered  his  soldiers  to  drive  the  crowd  away 
by  force,  and  they  opened  a  way  through  the  mass  of  the 
people  up  to  the  very  Sepulchre,  and  so  we  were  able  to 
pass  by. 

We  arrived  at  the  eastern  doors  of  the  Sepulchre.  The 
Prince  came  after  us,  and  placed  himself  at  the  right  side, 
near  the  partition  of  the  great  altar,  opposite  the  eastern 
doors,  where  there  was  a  special  elevated  place  for  the  Prince. 
He  ordered  the  abbot  of  St.  Sabbas  and  his  monks  and  ortho- 
dox priests  to  stand  around  the  Sepulchre,  but  me,  humble 
servant,  he  ordered  to  stand  high  above  the  doors  of  the 
Sepulchre,  opposite  the  great  altar,  so  that  I  could  look  into 
the  doors  of  the  Sepulchre:  there  are  three  of  these  doors 
and  they  are  locked  and  sealed  with  the  royal  seal.  The 
Latin  priests  stood  at  the  great  altar.  At  about  the  eighth 
hour  of  the  day  the  orthodox  priests  above  the  Sepulchre, 
and  many  monks  and  hermits  who  had  come,  began  to  sing 
their  vesper  service,  and  the  Latins  at  the  great  altar  chanted 
in  their  own  way.  I  stood  all  the  time  they  were  singing 
and  watched  diligently  the  doors  of  the  Sepulchre.  When 
they  began  to  read  the  prayers  of  the  Holy  Saturday,  the 
bishop  walked  down  with  his  deacon  from  the  altar  and 
^  went  to  the  doors  of  the  Sepulchre  and  looked  through  the 
chinks,  but  as  he  did  not  see  any  light,  he  returned  to  the 
altar.  When  they  had  read  the  sixth  prayer,  the  bishop 
went  again  with  his  deacon  to  the  door  of  the  Sepulchre,  but 
he  did  not  see  anything  within.  Then  all  the  people  sang 
in  tears:  "  Kyrie,  eleison!  " 


6o  The  Oldest  Period 

When  it  was  the  ninth  hour  of  the  day,  and  they  had  begun 
to  sing,  ' '  To  the  Lord  we  sing, ' '  a  small  cloud  suddenly  came 
from  the  east  and  stopping  over  the  uncovered  middle  of  the 
church,  came  down  in  a  rain  over  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and 
gave  us  who  were  standing  around  the  tomb  a  good  drench- 
ing. And  then  suddenly  the  holy  light  glimmered  in  the 
Sepulchre,  and  then  a  mighty,  bright  brilliancy  burst  forth 
from  it.  Then  the  bishop  came  with  four  deacons  and 
opened  the  doors  of  the  Sepulchre  and,  taking  a  candle  from 
the  Prince,  went  inside  the  tomb  and  lighted  it.  After 
coming  out  again,  he  handed  the  candle  to  the  Prince.  The 
Prince  remained  standing  in  his  place,  and  held  the  candle 
with  great  joj'.  From  that  candle  we  lighted  all  our  candles, 
and  from  ours  all  the  other  candles  were  lighted. 

This  holy  light  is  not  like  any  earthly  fire,  but  quite  dif- 
ferent :  it  burns  with  a  bright  flame  like  cinnabar.  And  all 
the  people  stood  with  their  burning  candles  and  wept  for 
great  joy  all  the  time  they  saw  the  divine  light.  He  who 
has  not  seen  the  great  joy  of  that  day  cannot  believe  one 
who  is  telling  about  it,  although  good  and  faithful  men  be- 
lieve it  all  and  with  pleasure  listen  to  the  account  of  this 
divine  light  and  of  the  holy  places,  for  the  faithful  believe 
the  great  and  small  things  alike,  but  to  an  evil  man  truth  is 
crooked.  But  to  me,  humble  servant,  God,  and  the  Holy 
Sepulchre,  and  my  whole  suite,  Russian  men  from  N6vgorod 
and  Kiev,  are  my  witnesses:  Syedesldv  Ivdnkovich,  Goro- 
disldv  Mikhdlkovich,  the  two  Kashkichs  and  many  others 
know  me  and  my  narration. 

But  let  us  return  to  our  storj'.  When  the  light  shone  up 
in  the  Sepulchre,  the  singing  stopped,  and  all  cried  aloud: 
"  Kyrie,  eleison!  "  Then  they  all  went  out  of  the  church 
in  great  joy  and  with  burning  candles,  watching  them  care- 
fully against  gusts  of  wind,  and  going  home  tliej'  all  lighted 
the  candles  in  their  churches  with  that  holy  light,  and  fin- 
ished the  singing  in  their  own  churches.  But  in  the  large 
church  of  the  Sepulchre  the  priests  end  the  singing  without 
the  people.  We  went  with  the  abbot  and  the  monks  to  our 
monastery,  carrying  the  burning  candles,  and  after  finishing 


Abbot  Daniel  6i 

our  vesper  singing,  we  went  to  our  cells  praising  the  lyord 
who  had  shown  us  His  grace.     .     .     . 

After  three  days  I  went  to  the  keeper  of  the  keys  of  the 
Holy  Sepulchre  and  said  to  him:  "  I  should  like  to  take 
away  my  lamp!"  He  received  me  with  much  kindness, 
took  me  alone  into  the  Sepulchre,  and  walking  in,  I  found 
my  lamp  still  burning  with  the  holy  light.  I  bowed  before 
the  Holy  Sepulchre  and  kissed  the  glorious  place  where  once 
lay  the  illustrious  body  of  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ.  Then  I 
measured  the  length,  the  width  and  the  height  of  the  Sepul- 
chre, for  one  is  not  allowed  to  measure  it  in  presence  of 
others.  After  having  honoured  the  IvOrd's  Sepulchre  as 
much  as  I  could,  I  gave  the  keeper  a  little  something  and  a 
blessing.  He,  seeing  my  love  for  the  Holy  Sepulchre  and 
kindness  to  himself,  removed  a  little  the  boards  at  the  head 
of  the  Sepulchre  and  broke  oflf  a  small  piece  of  rock  from  it 
which  he  gave  to  me  after  I  had  solemnly  sworn  to  him  that 
I  would  not  tell  anyone  in  Jerusalem  about  it.  I  bowed  to 
the  Sepulchre  and  to  the  keeper,  took  my  lamp  which  was 
still  burning,  and  went  away  with  great  joy,  having  been 
enriched  by  the  grace  of  God,  carrying  in  my  hand  a  gift 
from  the  holy  place  and  a  token  from  the  Holy  Sepulchre. 
And  thus  rejoicing  at  the  treasures  which  I  had  acquired,  I 
went  back  to  my  cell. 

EPII.OGUE 

I  made  my  pilgrimage  in  the  reign  of  Grand  Prince 
Svyatopolk  Izyaslavich,  the  grandson  of  Yarosldv  Vladimir- 
ovich  of  Kiev.  God  is  my  witness,  and  the  Holy  Sepulchre, 
that  in  all  those  holy  places  I  did  not  forget  the  Russian 
princes  and  their  wives  and  children,  nor  the  bishops,  abbots, 
boy4rs,  nor  my  spiritual  children,  nor  all  the  Christians,  but 
that  I  remembered  them  everywhere.  And  I  also  thank 
God  that  He  has  enabled  me,  humble  servant,  to  inscribe  the 
names  of  the  Russian  princes  in  the  monastery  of  St.  Sabbas, 
where  they  are  mentioned  even  now  in  their  services.    .    .    . 

May  the  benediction  of  the  lyord,  of  the  Holy  Sepulchre 
and  of  all  the  holy  places  be  on  all  who  read  this  message 


62  The  Oldest  Period 

with  faith  and  love !  For  they  will  receive  their  reward  from 
God  equally  with  those  who  have  made  pilgrimages  to  the 
holy  places.  Blessed  are  those  who  have  not  seen  and  yet 
believe!  Abraham  came  into  the  promised  land  through 
faith,  for  indeed  faith  is  equal  to  good  deeds.  For  the 
Lord's  sake,  brothers  and  fathers,  do  not  accuse  my  simpli- 
city and  rudeness,  and  do  not  make  light  of  this  writing;  not 
on  my  account,  but  on  account  of  the  holy  places,  honour  it 
in  love,  that  you  may  receive  your  reward  from  the  Lord 
our  God,  and  our  Saviour  Jesus  Christ,  and  may  the  God  of 
peace  be  with  all  of  you  unto  eternity.     Amen ! 

Cyril,  Bishop  of  Tfirov.    (XH.  century.) 

Little  is  known  of  the  life  of  this  remarkable  preacher.  He  was 
bom  at  Turov,  Government  of  Minsk,  about  the  year  1130,  where 
his  parents  were  wealthy  people.  Having  become  a  monk,  he  dis- 
tingxiished  himself  by  his  austere  asceticism  and  great  piety.  At  the 
request  of  the  Prince  of  Tfirov  he  was  made  bishop.  Eight  or  nine 
of  his  sermons  and  some  prayers  have  come  down  to  us  in  manuscript 
His  eloquence  stands  alone  in  the  whole  ancient  period  of  Russian 
literature.  Though  other  preachers  followed  Byzantine  models  in 
their  sermons,  yet  none  carried  the  flowery  Greek  symbolism  so  far, 
or  wrote  in  so  fluent  a  language. 

FROM  A  SERMON  ON  THE  FIRST  SUNDAY 
AFTER  EASTER 

The  Church  needs  a  great  teacher  and  a  wise  orator  to 
properly  celebrate  the  holiday,  but  we  are  poor  in  words  and 
dim  in  mind,  not  having  the  fire  of  the  Holy  Ghost, — the 
enjoyment  of  words  useful  to  the  soul;  yet  for  the  love  of 
my  brethren  who  are  with  me,  we  shall  say  something  about 
the  renewal  of  the  Lord's  resurrection.  In  the  past  week  of 
the  Easter  there  was  joy  in  heaven,  and  terror  in  the  nether- 
most regions,  a  renewal  of  life  and  liberation  of  the  world,  a 
destruction  of  hell  and  victory  over  death,  a  resurrection  of 
the  dead,  and  annihilation  of  the  enticing  power  of  the 
devil;  a  salvation  of  the  human  race  by  the  resurrection 
of  Christ;   an  impoverishment  of  the  Old  Testament  and 


Cyril  of  Tiirov  63 

enslavement  of  the  Sabbath;  an  enrichment  of  the  Church 
of  Christ,  and  enthronement  of  the  Sunday. 

I/ast  week  there  was  a  change  of  all  things,  for  the  earth 
was  opened  up  by  heaven,  having  been  purified  from  its 
Satanic  impurities,  and  the  angels  with  their  wives  humbly 
served  at  the  resurrection.  All  creation  was  renewed,  for 
no  longer  are  the  air,  the  sun,  the  fire,  the  springs,  the  trees, 
thought  to  be  gods;  no  longer  does  hell  receive  its  due  of 
infants  sacrificed  by  their  fathers,  nor  death  its  honours, 
for  idolatry  has  come  to  an  end,  and  the  satanic  power 
has  been  vanquished  by  the  mystery  of  the  cross.  The 
Old  Testament  has  become  impoverished  by  the  rejection 
of  the  blood  of  calves  and  sacrifices  of  goats,  for  Christ  has 
given  Himself  to  the  Lord  as  a  sacrifice  for  all.  And 
with  this,  Sunday  ceased  to  be  a  holiday,  but  the  Sun- 
day was  sanctified  on  account  of  the  resurrection,  and 
Sunday  is  now  supreme,  for  Christ  arose  from  the  dead  on 
that  day.     .     .     . 

To-day  the  heavens  have  been  cleared  from  the  dark 
clouds  that  enshrouded  them  as  with  a  heavy  veil,  and  they 
proclaim  the  glory  of  God  with  a  clear  atmosphere.     .     .     . 

To-day  the  sun  rises  and  beams  on  high,  and  rejoicing 
warms  the  earth,  for  there  has  arisen  for  us  from  the  grave 
the  real  sun,  Christ,  and  He  saves  all  who  believe  in  Him. 
To-day  the  moon  descends  from  its  high  place,  and  gives 
honour  to  the  greater  lights.  The  Old  Testament,  as  had 
been  prophesied,  has  stopped  with  its  Sabbath,  and  with  its 
prophets  gives  honour  to  the  Testament  of  Christ  with  its 
Sunday.  To-day  the  winter  of  sin  has  stopped  in  repentance, 
and  the  ice  of  unbelief  is  melted  by  wisdom.  To-day  spring 
appears  spruce,  and  enlivens  all  earthly  existence;  the  stormy 
winds  blow  gently  and  generate  fruits,  and  the  earth,  giving 
nurture  to  the  seed,  brings  forth  green  grass.  For  spring  is 
the  beautiful  faith  in  Christ  which,  through  baptism,  pro- 
duces a  regeneration  of  man,  and  the  stormy  winds  are  the 
evil,  sinful  thoughts  that,  being  changed  to  virtue  through 
repentance,  generate  soul-saving  fruits;  but  the  earth  of 
our  being,  having  received  the  Word  of  God  like  a  seed,  and. 


64  The  Oldest  Period 

passing  through  an  ecstatic  labour,  through  the  fear  of  Him, 
brings  forth  a  spirit  of  salvation. 

To-day  the  new-born  lambs  and  calves  frisk  and  leap  about 
joyfully  and  returning  to  their  mothers  gambol  about,  so 
that  the  shepherds,  playing  on  their  reeds,  praise  Christ  in 
joy.  The  lambs,  I  say,  are  the  gentle  people  from  among 
the  pagans,  and  the  calves — the  idolaters  of  the  unbelieving 
countries  who,  having  accepted  the  Law  through  Christ's 
incarnation  and  the  teachings  of  the  apostles  and  miracles, 
and  having  returned  to  the  holy  Church,  suck  the  milk  of 
its  teachings;  and  the  teachers  of  Christ's  flock,  praying  for 
all,  praise  Christ,  the  Lord,  who  had  collected  all  the  wolves 
and  sheep  into  one  herd. 

To-day  the  trees  send  forth  buds  and  the  fragrant  flowers 
bloom,  and  behold,  the  gardens  already  emit  a  sweet  odour, 
and  the  workers  labouring  in  hope  acclaim  Christ  the  giver 
of  fruits.  We  were  before  like  the  trees  of  the  forest  that 
bear  no  fruit,  but  to-day  the  faith  of  Christ  has  been  grafted 
on  our  unbelief,  and  those  who  already  held  to  the  roots  of 
Jesse  have  burgeoned  with  the  flowers  of  virtue  and  expect 
through  Christ  a  regeneration  in  heaven,  and  the  saints  who 
labour  for  the  Church  expect  a  reward  from  Christ.  To-day 
the  ploughman  of  the  Word  leads  the  oxen  of  the  Word  to  the 
spiritual  yoke,  sinks  the  plough  of  baptism  into  the  furrows  of 
thought  and  deepening  them  to  furrows  of  repentance  plants 
in  them  the  spiritual  seed  and  rejoices  in  the  hope  of  future 
returns.  To-day  everj'thing  old  has  taken  an  end,  and  all 
is  new  for  the  sake  of  the  resurrection.  To-day  the  apostolic 
rivers  are  full,  and  the  pagan  fish  let  out  their  broods,  and 
the  fishermen,  having  examined  the  depth  of  the  divine  in- 
carnation, drag  in  full  nets  into  the  Church.  .  .  .  To- 
day the  industrious  bees  of  the  monastic  order  show  their 
wisdom  and  set  all  to  wonder,  for  living  in  the  wilderness 
and  providing  for  themselves,  they  astonish  both  angels  and 
men,  just  as  the  bee  flies  upon  the  flowers  and  forms  combs 
of  honey  in  order  to  furnish  sweetness  to  man  and  what  is 
needed  in  the  church.     .     .     . 

To-day  there  is  a  feast  of  regeneration  for  the  people  who 


Nestor's  Chronicle  65 

are  made  new  by  the  resurrection  of  Christ,  and  all  new 
things  are  brought  to  God:  from  heatheq^s,  faith;  from  good 
Christians,  offerings;  from  the  clergy,  holy  sacrifices;  from 
the  civil  authorities,  God-pleasing  charitj';  from  the  noble, 
care  for  the  Church;  from  the  righteous,  humility;  from  the 
sinners,  true  repentance ;  from  the  unhallowed,  a  turning  to 
God;  from  the  hating,  spiritual  love. 

Nestor's  Chronicle.    (XII.  century.) 

Nestor  was  bom  about  1056,  and  at  the  age  of  seventeen  entered 
the  monastery  of  the  Grottoes  at  Kiev.  In  1091  he  was  commissioned 
to  find  in  the  Grottoes  the  mortal  relics  of  Theodosiiis,  the  founder 
of  the  monastery.  Having  performed  this  task  he  wrote  a  life  of  the 
founder.  He  died  about  1146.  To  this  Ndstor  has  been  ascribed 
the  authorship  of  the  chronicle  which  in  one  of  the  manuscripts  of 
the  fourteenth  centiu-y  bears  the  title :  The  stories  of  bygone  years, 
whence  the  Russian  land  began,  who  first  reigned  at  Kiev,  and  how 
the  Russian  land  was  formed.  It  has,  however,  been  proved  that 
only  a  small  part  of  the  chronicle  belongs  to  him,  and  that  the  last 
editor  of  the  whole  was  the  abbot  Sylvester,  the  continuator  of 
Nestor's  Chronicle  for  the  twelfth  century. 

The  chronicle  contains  the  reports  of  important  facts  in  the  life  of 
the  princes,  arranged  in  chronological  order.  The  author,  or  authors, 
being  of  the  clerical  profession,  the  influence  of  Christianity  shows 
itself  throughout  in  the  use  of  a  biblical  diction.  This  is  especially 
the  case  where  Byzantine  chronographers,  whose  influence  on  all  the 
early  Russian  chronicles  is  unmistakable,  and  church  and  monastery 
notes  are  the  source  of  the  historical  narrative.  But  popular  stories, 
legends  and  accounts  of  eye-witnesses  also  play  an  important  part  in 
the  composition  of  the  work,  and  in  these  the  diction  is  more 
dramatic  and  natural.  The  chronicle  covers  the  period  from  862  to 
1 1 10,  and  is  exceedingly  valuable  as  the  chief  source  for  the  history 
of  Russia  for  the  time  described.  It  has  not  come  down  to  us  in  the 
original,  but  has  reached  us  in  copies  of  the  fourteenth  century,  of 
which  the  Laurentian  manuscript,  copied  by  the  monk  Laurentius  for 
Dimitri  Konstantinovich,  Prince  of  Sdzdal,  is  the  most  important. 

THE   BAPTISM   OF  VLADIMIR  AND  OF  ALI* 
RUSSIA 

In  the  year  6495  (987),  Vladfmir  called  together  his 
boy&rs  and  city  elders,  and  said  to  them:    "There  have 

VOL.   I.— 5. 


66  The  Oldest  Period 

come  to  me  Bulgarians  who  said:  'Accept  our  religion!' 
Then  came  the  Germans,  and  they  praised  their  religion; 
after  them  came  the  Jews. '  But  after  them  came  the  Greeks, 
who  spoke  slightingly  of  all  the  other  religions,  but  praised 
their  own.  They  spoke  much  about  the  beginning  of  the 
universe  and  the  existence  of  the  whole  world.  They  are 
cunning  of  speech,. and  talk  so  pleasantly  that  it  is  a  pleasure 
to  hear  them.  They  say  that  there  is  another  world,  and 
that  if  anyone  enters  into  their  faith,  he  would  live  after  his 
death,  and  would  not  die  for  eternity ;  but  that  if  he  accepts 
any  other  faith,  he  would  bum  in  the  other  world.  Now, 
what  counsel  do  you  give  me  ?    What  is  your  answer  ?  ' ' 

And  the  boydrs  and  elders  said:  "  You  know,  O  Prince, 
that  nobody  detracts  his  own,  but  praises  it.  If  you  are 
anxious  to  find  out  the  truth,  you  have  men  whom  you  can 
send  out  to  see  how  they  all  serve  God." 

And  the  speech  pleased  the  Prince  and  all  people.  They 
selected  good  and  clever  men,  to  the  number  of  ten,  and 
said  to  them:  "  Go  first  to  the  Bulgarians  and  inquire  into 
their  religion!  "  And  they  went,  and  saw  their  abominable 
deeds  and  worshipping  in  shrines,  and  returned  to  their 
land.  Vladimir  said  to  them :  ' '  Go  now  to  the  Germans, 
find  out  there  also,  and  thence  go  to  Greece ! ' ' 

And  they  went  to  Germany  and,  having  seen  their  divine 
service,  they  came  to  Constantinople,  and  went  to  the  Em- 
peror. The  Emperor  asked  them  what  they  had  come  for, 
and  they  told  him  all  as  it  was.  Having  heard  this,  the 
Emperor  was  glad,  and  gave  them  a  banquet  on  that  very 
day.  Next  morning  he  sent  to  the  Patriarch  saying :  '  *  Some 
Russians  have  come  to  find  out  about  our  faith ;  so  have  the 
church  and  clergy  in  order,  and  yourself  don  the  holy  gar- 
ments, that  they  may  see  the  glory  of  our  God." 

Having  heard  this,  the  Patriarch  called  together  the  clergy 
to  celebrate  the  day  according  to  the  custom,  and  he  had  the 
censers  lighted,  and  arranged  the  singing  and  the  choir. 
The  Emperor  went  with  them  to  church,  and  they  were 
placed  in  a  prominent  place  where  they  could  see  the  beauty 
>  The  Khazars,  a  Tartar  tribe  that  professed  the  Mosaic  Law. 


Nestor's  Chronicle  67 

of  the  church,  hear  the  singing  and  archiepiscopal  ministra- 
tion, and  watch  the  attendance  of  the  deacons  in  the  divine 
service.  They  were  surprised,  and  marvelled,  and  praised 
their  service.  And  the  Emperors  Basil  and  Constantine 
called  them  and  said  to  them :  * '  Go  to  your  land ! ' '  and  they 
sent  them  away  with  many  gifts  and  honours. 

They  came  back  to  their  country,  and  their  Prince  called 
together  his  boydrs  and  old  men.  Said  Vladimir:  "  The 
men  we  have  sent  away  have  come  back.  I^et  us  hear  what 
has  happened ! ' '  And  he  said :  ' '  Speak  before  the  dru- 
zhina!  "  and  they  spoke:  "  When  we  were  in  Bulgaria,  we 
saw  them  worshipping  in  the  temple,  where  they  talk  in  the 
shrine  and  stand  without  their  girdles.  Having  made  their 
obeisance,  they  sit  down  and  look  around  hither  and  thither 
like  madmen,  and  there  is  no  joy  among  them,  only  sadness 
and  a  great  stench:  their  religion  is  not  good.  And  we 
came  to  Germany,  and  we  saw  many  ceremonies  in  their 
temples,  but  of  beauty  we  saw  none.  We  went  to  Greece, 
and  they  took  us  where  they  worship  their  God,  and  we  do 
not  know  whether  we  were  in  heaven  or  upon  earth,  for 
there  is  not  upon  earth  such  sight  or  beauty.  We  were  per- 
plexed, but  this  much  we  know  that  there  God  lives  among 
men,  and  their  service  is  better  than  in  any  other  country. 
We  cannot  forget  that  beauty,  for  every  man  that  has  par- 
taken of  sweetness  will  not  afterwards  accept  bitterness,  and 
thus  we  can  no  longer  remain  in  our  former  condition." 
And  the  boydrs  answered  and  said:  "  If  the  Greek  religion 
were  bad,  your  grandmother  Olga,  who  was  the  wisest  of 
all  men,  would  not  have  accepted  it."  And  Vladfmir  an- 
swered and  said:  "Where  shall  we  receive  our  baptism?" 
But  they  answered:  "  Wheresoever  it  may  please  you !  " 

Next  year,  the  year  6496,  Vladimir  went  with  his  warriors 
against  Korsdn,'  a  Greek  city,  and  the  Korsdnians  shut 
themselves  up  in  the  city.  Vladfmir  was  encamped  at  the 
side  of  the  city  nearest  the  harbour,  at  one  shot's  distance 
from  it,  and  they  fought  valiantly  in  the  city,  and  Vladimir 

'  The  ancient  Tauric  Chersonese ;  this  later  city  was  not  built  on 
the  ancient  site,  but  near  Sebastopol. 


68  The  Oldest  Period 

beleaguered  it.  The  townspeople  were  weakening,  and 
Vladimir  said  to  them:  "If  you  do  not  surrender,  I  shall 
stay  here,  if  need  be,  three  years."  They  paid  no  attention 
to  it,  and  Vladfmir  drew  up  his  soldiers,  and  ordered  them 
to  build  a  rampart  to  the  city.  While  they  were  asleep,  the 
Kors6nians  undermined  the  city  wall,  and,  stealing  the  dirt 
which  they  had  thrown  up,  carried  it  into  the  city,  and  de- 
posited it  there.  The  soldiers  again  filled  up  the  rampart, 
and  Vladimir  remained  there. 

A  Korsun  man,  by  the  name  of  Nastas,  shot  an  arrow 
upon  which  was  written  as  follows:  "  It  is  by  the  wells  that 
are  behind  you  in  the  east,  that  the  water  is  led  by  pipes  into 
the  city ;  dig  them  up,  and  stop  the  supply ! ' '  Hearing  this, 
Vladimir  looked  to  the  heavens  and  said :  "  If  it  shall  come 
to  pass,  I  will  be  baptised,"  and  immediately  he  ordered 
the  pipes  to  be  dug  up,  and  the  water  was  intercepted.  The 
people  were  exhausted  with  thirst,  and  they  surrendered 
themselves.  Valdirair  entered  the  city  with  his  druzhfna, 
and  he  sent  word  to  the  Emperors  Basil  and  Constantine: 
"I  have  taken  your  famous  city.  I  hear  you  have  a  sister 
who  is  still  a  maiden.  If  you  will  not  give  her  to  me 
for  a  wife,  I  shall  do  unto  your  city  as  I  have  done  unto 
this." 

And  they  heard  the  tsar,  and  were  sad,  and  gave  the  fol- 
lowing answer:  "  It  does  not  behoove  Christians  to  give  in 
marriage  to  a  pagan.  If  you  will  receive  the  baptism,  you 
shall  get  her,  and  you  will  receive  the  kingdom  of  heaven, 
and  will  be  of  one  faith  with  us.  If  j'^ou  do  not  wish  to  do 
so,  we  cannot  give  you  our  sister." 

Hearing  this,  Vladimir  said  to  the  messengers  of  the  Em- 
perors: "  Tell  your  Emperors  that  I  will  be  baptised,  that  I 
have  inquired  before  these  days  into  your  faith,  and  am 
pleased  with  your  belief  and  divine  service,  from  what  the 
men  that  had  been  sent  by  us  have  told  me." 

Which  when  the  Emperors  heard,  they  were  glad  and 
persuaded  their  sister,  by  the  name  of  Anna,  and  sent  to 
Vladimir  saying:  "Receive  the  baptism,  and  then  we  will 
send  our  sister  to  you." 


Nestor's  Chronicle  69 

But  Vladfmir  answered:  "  I^et  them  come  with  your  sister 
to  baptise  me ! ' ' 

The  Emperors  obeyed,  and  sent  their  sister  and  a  few  high 
ofl&cers  and  presbyters.  She  did  not  want  to  go:  "It  is  as  if 
I  were  going  into  captivity,"  she  said.  "  It  were  better  if  I 
died  here."  And  her  brothers  said  to  her:  "  Perchance  God 
will  through  you  turn  the  Russian  land  to  repentance,  and 
free  Greece  from  a  dire  war.  Do  you  not  see  how  much  evil 
the  Russians  have  caused  to  the  Greeks  ?  If  you  will  not 
go,  they  will  do  even  thus  to  us."  They  persuaded  her 
with  diflSculty.  She  boarded  a  boat,  kissed  her  relatives 
under  tears  and  went  across  the  sea.  She  arrived  at  Kor- 
stin,  and  the  Korsunians  met  her  with  honours,  and  led  her 
into  the  city  and  seated  her  in  the  palace. 

By  God's  will,  Vladimir  was  at  that  time  ailing  with  his 
eyes,  and  he  could  not  see,  and  was  much  worried.  The 
empress  sent  to  him  saying:  "  If  you  want  to  be  rid  of  your 
disease,  be  baptised  at  once.  If  not,  you  will  not  be  rid 
of  it." 

Hearing  this,  Vladimir  said:  *'  If  it  will  be  so  in  truth, 
then  indeed  your  Christian  God  is  great. ' '  And  he  ordered  to 
baptise  him.  The  bishop  of  Korsiin  with  the  priests  of  the 
empress  received  Vladimir  as  a  catechumen  and  baptised 
him,  and  the  moment  he  laid  his  hands  upon  him,  he  re- 
gained his  eyesight.  When  Vladimir  saw  this  sudden  cure, 
he  praised  God  and  said :  ' '  Now  have  I  for  the  first  time 
found  the  real  God!"  When  his  druzhina  perceived  this, 
many  were  baptised.  He  was  baptised  in  the  church  of  St. 
Basil,  and  that  church  is  situated  in  Korsiin,  there  where 
the  Korstinians  have  their  market-place.  Vladimir's  palace 
by  the  church  is  standing  up  to  the  present  day.  The  palace 
of  the  empress  is  beyond  the  altar.  After  the  baptism  he 
led  the  empress  to  the  betrothal.  Those  who  do  not  know 
right  say  that  he  was  baptised  in  Kiev;  others  say  in  Vasi- 
16v;  others  again  say  otherwise. 

After  that,  Vladimir  took  the  empress  and  Nastds,  and  the 
Korsun  priests  with  the  holy  relics  of  Clement  and  Phoebus, 
his  disciple,  and  church  vessels,  and  images,  for  his  own  use. 


70  The  Oldest  Period 

He  built  a  church  in  Korsun  on  the  hill  which  they  had 
thrown  up  in  the  middle  of  the  city  from  the  dirt  they  had 
carried  away,  and  that  church  is  still  standing  there.  Going 
away,  he  took  along  with  him  two  brass  statues  and  four 
brass  horses  which  stand  to-day  behind  the  church  of  the 
Holy  Virgin,  and  which  the  ignorant  think  to  be  of  marble. 
He  gave  as  a  marriage  price  Korsun  back  to  the  Greeks,  for 
the  sake  of  the  empress,  and  went  back  to  Kiev. 

Upon  his  return,  he  ordered  the  idols  to  be  cast  down,  and 
some  to  be  cut  to  pieces,  and  others  to  be  consumed  by  fire; 
but  Pertin  he  had  tied  to  the  tail  of  a  horse,  and  dragged 
down  the  hill  over  the  Borichev '  to  the  brook,  and  placed 
twelve  men  to  strike  him  with  rods,  not  as  if  the  wood  had 
any  feeling,  but  as  a  scorn  to  the  devil  who  had  in  that  way 
seduced  people,  that  he  might  receive  his  due  punishment 
from  men.  As  he  was  dragged  along  the  brook  to  the 
Dnieper,  the  unbelievers  wept  over  him,  for  they  had  not  yet 
received  the  holy  baptism,  and  he  was  cast  into  the  Dnieper. 
Vladimir  stood  by,  and  said:  "Should  he  be  carried  any- 
where to  the  banks,  push  him  off,  until  he  has  passed  the 
rapids,  when  you  may  leave  him ! ' '  They  did  as  they  were 
told.  When  he  passed  the  rapids,  and  was  let  loose,  the 
wind  carried  him  on  a  sandbank,  which  is  named  from  this 
**  Pertiu's  Bank,"  and  is  called  so  to  this  day. 

After  that  Vladimir  proclaimed  throughout  the  whole  city: 
"  Whosoever  will  not  appear  to-morrow  at  the  river,  whether 
he  be  rich  or  poor,  or  a  beggar,  or  a  workingman,  will  be  in 
my  disfavour."  Hearing  this,  people  came  gladly  and  with 
joy,  and  said:  "  If  this  were  not  good,  the  Prince  and  boyars 
would  not  have  accepted  it."  Next  morning  Vladimir  went 
out  with  the  priests  of  the  empress  and  of  Korsun  to  the 
Dnieper,  and  there  came  together  people  without  number. 
They  went  into  the  water,  and  stood  there  up  to  their  necks, 
and  some  up  to  their  breasts,  but  the  younger  nearer  the 
shore,  and  others  held  the  younger  ones,  while  the  grown 
people  waded  into  the  water.  And  the  priests  stood  there 
and  said  the  prayers;  and  there  was  a  joy  in  heavelh  and 
'  A  suburb  of  Kiev. 


The  Kiev  Chronicle  71 

upon  earth  at  the  sight  of  so  many  saved  souls,  but  the  devil 
groaned,  and  said:  "  Woe  to  me!  I  am  driven  away  from 
here.  Here  I  had  intended  to  have  my  habitation,  for 
here  are  no  apostolic  teachings,  and  they  do  not  know  God, 
and  I  rejoiced  in  the  worship  with  which  they  served 
me.  And  now  I  am  conquered  by  ignorant  people  and  not 
by  apostles  and  martyrs.  I  shall  no  longer  reign  in  these 
lands." 

Having  been  baptised,  the  people  went  to  their  houses. 
Vladimir  was  happy  for  having,  himself  and  his  people, 
found  God,  and  looking  up  to  heaven  he  said:  "  God,  Thou 
hast  created  heaven  and  earth!  Guard  these  Thy  new 
people,  and  let  them,  O  I/ord,  find  out  the  real  God,  such  as 
the  Christian  people  know  Him.  Strengthen  the  true  and 
constant  faith  in  them,  and  help  me,  O  Lord,  against  my  foe, 
that  relying  upon  Thee  and  Thy  power,  I  may  escape  his 
ambush!" 

The  people  having  been  baptised,  they  all  went  to  their 
homes,  and  Vladimir  ordered  churches  to  be  built,  and  to 
place  them  there  where  formerly  stood  the  idols.  He  built 
the  church  of  St.  Basil  on  the  hill  where  stood  the  idol  Perlin 
and  the  others,  to  whom  the  Prince  and  others  used  to  bring 
sacrifices.  And  he  began  to  locate  churches  and  priests  over 
the  towns,  and  to  lead  people  to  baptism  in  all  towns  and 
villages.  He  sent  ont  men  to  take  the  children  of  noble- 
men, and  to  put  them  out  for  book  instruction;  but  the 
mothers  of  those  children  wept  for  them,  for  they  were  not 
yet  firm  in  their  faith,  and  they  wept  for  them  as  for  the 
dead. 

The  Kiev  Chronicle.    (XII.  century.) 

The  Kiev  Chronicle  is  a  continuation  of  Nestor's  Chronicle,  from 
1111-1201,  and  describes  mainly  the  acts  of  the  principality  of  Kiev. 
The  best  manuscript  of  this  chronicle  is  from  the  monastery  of  St. 
Ipdti,  near  Kostromd,  and  dates  from  the  end  of  the  fourteenth,  or 
the  beginning  of  the  fifteenth,  century.  The  passage  given  below  is 
selected  to  illustrate  the  historical  account  of  the  same  incident  con- 
tained in  the  ff^ord  of  fgor's  Armament. 


72  The  Oldest  Period 

THE    EXPEDITION    OF    IGOR    SVYATOSI<AviCH 
AGAINST  THE    POLOVTSES ' 

In  the  year  6693  (1185).  At  that  time  Igor,  the  son  of 
Svyatosl^v,  the  grandson  of  016g,  rode  out  of  N6vgorod  on 
the  23rd  of  April,  which  was  on  a  Tuesday,  having  taken 
with  him  his  brother  Vs6volod  from  Trub6tsk,  and  Svyato- 
sldv  Olgovich,  his  nephew,  from  Rylsk,  and  Vladimir,  his 
son,  from  Putivl,  and  Yarosldv  had  sent  him,  at  his  request, 
Olstfn  016ksich,  the  grandson  of'Prokh6r,  with  Kovuans* 
from  Chernigov.  They  proceeded  slowly,  collecting  their 
druzhina,  for  their  horses  were  very  fat.  As  they  were 
going  towards  the  river  Don6ts,  Igor  looked  one  evening  at 
the  sky,  and  he  saw  the  sun  standing  there  like  a  moon,  and 
he  said  to  his  boydrs  and  druzhina:  "  Do  you  see  this 
omen?" 

They  looked  up,  and  having  noticed  it,  hung  their  heads, 
and  said :  "  Prince,  this  is  not  a  good  omen!  " 

But  Igor  said :  ' '  Brothers  and  druzhina !  Nobody  knows 
God's  mystery,  and  God  is  the  creator  of  mystery,  as  well  as 
of  all  His  world;  but  we  shall  find  out  in  time  whether  God 
means  our  good  or  our  evil." 

Having  said  this,  he  forded  the  Donets  and  came  to  the 
river  Osk6l,  where  he  waited  for  two  days  for  his  brother 
Vs^volod  who  was  marching  by  another  road  from  Kursk; 
thence  they  proceeded  to  Silnitsa.  There  came  to  them  the 
guards  whom  they  had  sent  out  to  reconnoitre;  they  said: 
"  We  have  seen  the  army  of  the  enemy;  they  were  riding 
rapidly :  either  you  ride  fast,  or  we  had  better  return  home, 
for  the  time  is  not  propitious." 

But  Igor  consulted  his  brothers  and  said :  "  If  we  return 
without  fighting,  our  shame  will  be  greater  than  death.  I^t 
us  proceed  with  God's  aid!  " 

Having  said  this,  they  travelled  through  the  night,  and 
the  next  day,  which  was  a  Friday,  they  met  the  army  of  the 
P61ovtses  at  noontime.     When  they  saw  them,  they  were 

'  For  notes  consult  the  Word  0/ Igor's  Armament  (p.  80  et  sqq.). 
•  A  Finnish  tribe. 


The  Kiev  Chronicle  73 

■without  their  tents,  for  they  had  left  them  behind  them,  but 
the  old  and  young  were  all  standing  on  the  other  side  of  the 
river  Syuurlf.  The  Russians  arranged  their  six  troops  as 
follows:  Igor's  troop  was  in  the  middle,  to  his  right  was  the 
troop  of  his  brother  Vsevolod,  and  to  the  left  that  of  his 
nephew  Svyatosldv;  in  front  of  him  was  placed  his  son  Vla- 
dimir, and  Yaroslav's  Kovuans,  and  a  third  troop  of  archers 
was  in  front  of  them,  and  they  were  selected  from  the  troops 
of  all  the  princes;  that  was  the  position  of  their  troops. 

And  Igor  spoke  to  his  brothers:  "Brothers!  We  have 
found  what  we  have  been  looking  for,  so  let  us  move  on 
them!"  And  they  advanced,  placing  their  faith  in  God. 
When  they  came  to  the  river  Syuurli,  the  archers  galloped 
out  from  the  troops  of  the  P61ovtses,  sent  each  an  arrow 
against  the  Russians,  and  galloped  back  again,  before  the 
Russians  had  crossed  the  river  Syuurli ;  equally  the  P61ovtses 
who  stood  farther  away  from  the  river  galloped  away.  Svya- 
toslav  Olgovich,  and  Vladimir  Igorevich,  and  Olstin  with 
his  Kovtians,  and  the  archers  ran  after  them,  while  Igor 
and  Vs6volod  went  slowly  ahead,  and  did  not  send  forward 
their  troops;  but  the  Russians  ahead  of  them  struck  down 
the  P6lovtses.  The  Polovtses  ran  beyond  their  tents,  and 
the  Russians,  having  come  as  far  as  the  tents,  plundered 
them,  and  some  returned  in  the  night  with  their  booty  to 
the  army. 

When  the  P61ovtses  had  come  together,  Igor  said  to  his 
brothers  and  men :  ' ' God  has  given  us  the  power  to  vanquish 
our  enemy,  and  honour  and  glory  to  us!  We  have  seen  the 
army  of  the  Polovtses  that  it  is  large,  and  I  wonder  whether 
they  have  all  been  collected.  If  we  now  shall  ride  through 
the  night,  what  surety  is  there  that  all  will  follow  us  next 
morning  ?  And  our  best  horsemen  will  be  in  the  meantime 
cut  down,  and  we  will  have  to  shift  as  best  we  can. ' ' 

And  Svyatoslav  Olgovich  spoke  to  his  uncles:  "  I  have 
driven  the  P6lovtses  a  long  distance,  and  my  horses  are 
played  out;  if  I  am  to  travel  on  to-day,  I  shall  have  to  fall 
behind  on  the  road,"  and  Vsevolod  agreed  with  him  that  it 
was  best  to  rest. 


74  The  Oldest  Period 

Igor  spoke:  "  Knowing  this,  it  is  not  proper  to  expose 
ourselves  to  death,"  and  they  rested  there. 

When  the  day  broke  on  the  Saturday,  the  troops  of  the 
P6lovtses  began  to  appear  like  a  forest.  The  Russian  princes 
were  perplexed,  and  did  not  know  whom  to  attack  first,  for 
there  was  a  numberless  host  of  them.  And  Igor  said :  ' '  See, 
I  have  collected  against  me  the  whole  land:  Konchdk,  Kozd 
Burnovich,  Toksobich,  Kolobich,  Etebich,  and  Tertrobich." 
And  seeing  them,  they  dismounted  from  their  horses,  for 
they  wished  to  reach  the  river  Don6ts  by  fighting,  and  they 
said:  '*  If  we  remain  on  horseback,  and  run  away,  and  leave 
our  soldiers  behind,  we  will  have  sinned  before  God ;  but  let 
us  die  or  live  together!  "  And  having  said  this,  they  all  dis- 
mounted and  fought  on  foot. 

By  the  will  of  God,  Igor  was  wounded,  and  his  left  arm 
was  disabled,  and  there  was  a  great  sorrow  in  his  troop ;  and 
they  captured  his  general,  having  wounded  him  in  front. 
And  they  fought  that  day  until  evening,  and  many  were  the 
wounded  and  killed  in  the  Russian  army.  They  fought  till 
late  into  the  night,  and  when  the  Sunday  began  to  break,  the 
Kovuans  became  confused  and  ran  away.  Igor  was  at  that 
time  on  horseback,  for  he  was  wounded,  and  he  followed 
them  up,  trying  to  bring  them  back  to  the  army.  Seeing 
that  he  had  gone  far  away  from  his  people,  he  took  off"  his 
helmet  so  that  they  might  recognise  him  and  might  return 
to  the  army,  and  he  rode  back  to  his  troop.  But  no  one  re- 
turned, except  Mikhdlko  Gyurgevich  who  had  recognised 
the  Prince.  The  trouble  was,  no  one,  except  a  few  of  the 
rank  and  file  and  boydrs'  youths,  had  thoroughly  mingled 
with  the  Kovuans,  for  they  were  all  busy  fighting  on  foot; 
among  these,  Vsdvolod  excelled  in  bravery.  As  Igor  was 
approaching  his  troop,  the  P6lovtses  crossed  his  path  and 
made  him  prisoner  within  an  arrow's  shot  from  his  troop. 
While  Igor  was  held  captive,  he  saw  his  brother  fighting 
mightily,  and  in  his  heart  he  implored  for  his  own  death  that 
he  might  not  see  his  brother  fall  dead;  but  Vs^volod  was 
fighting  until  he  had  no  weapons  left  in  his  hands,  and  they 
were  fighting  around  a  lake. 


The  Kiev  Chronicle  75 

It  was  on  the  day  of  the  holy  Sunday  that  the  I,ord 
brought  down  His  anger  upon  them,  and  changed  joy  into 
weeping,  and  instead  of  pleasure  gave  them  sorrow,  on  the 
river  Kayala.  And  Igor  spoke:  "  I  now  recall  my  sins  be- 
fore the  Lord  my  God,  for  I  have  caused  much  slaughter  and 
bloodshed  in  the  Christian  land,  and  did  not  spare  the 
Christians,  but  took  by  storm  the  town  of  Gly^bov  near 
Pereydslavl.  Then  innocent  Christians  suffered  no  small 
measure  of  evil,  for  fathers  were  separated  from  their  child- 
ren, brother  from  brother,  friend  from  friend,  wives  from 
husbands,  and  daughters  from  their  mothers,  and  all  was 
confused  in  captivity  and  sorrow.  The  living  envied  the 
dead,  and  the  dying  rejoiced  because  they  had  like  holy 
martyrs  received  their  trial  by  fire  in  this  life;  old  men  were 
killed,  young  men  received  fierce  and  inhuman  wounds,  men 
were  cut  to  pieces.  All  this  I  have  done,  and  I  am  not 
worthy  to  live;  to-day  the  revenge  of  the  Lord  has  reached 
me.  Where  is  now  my  beloved  brother?  Where  is  now 
the  son  of  my  brother  ?  Where  is  the  child  of  my  loins  ? 
Where  are  the  counselling  boydrs,  where  are  the  brave  men, 
the  ranks  of  the  soldiers  ?  Where  are  the  horses  and  costly 
weapons?  Am  I  not  separated  from  all  that,  and  has  not 
the  Lord  given  me  fettered  into  the  hands  of  the  pagans  ? 
The  Lord  has  repaid  me  for  my  lawlessness  and  my  mean- 
ness, and  my  sins  have  this  day  come  down  upon  my  head. 
The  Lord  is  just,  and  His  judgments  are  right,  and  I  have 
nothing  in  common  with  the  living,  I  see  to-day  others  re- 
ceiving the  crown  of  martyrdom,  but  why  can  I  not,  guilty 
one,  suffer  for  all  of  them  ?  But  Lord  my  God!  Do  not  re- 
ject me  to  the  end,  but  as  Thy  will,  O  Lord,  is  done,  so  also 
is  Thy  mercy  to  us.  Thy  slaves!  " 

The  battle  being  over,  the  P6lovtses  scattered,  and  went 
to  their  tents.  Igor  was  captured  by  the  Targ61ans,  by  a 
man  named  Chilbuk;  his  brother  Vsevolod  was  taken  by 
Romdn  Kzich,  Svyatosl4v  Olgovich  by  Eldechyuk  of  the 
Boburcheviches,  and  Vladimir  by  Kopti  of  the  Ulasheviches. 
Then  Konchdk  took  care  of  Igor  on  the  battlefield,  for  he 
was  wounded.     Of  the  many  prisoners  taken  but  few  could 


76  The  Oldest  Period 

run  away,  God  being  willing,  for  it  was  not  possible  for  any- 
one to  escape,  being  surrounded  on  all  sides  by  the  P6lovts 
army  as  with  mighty  walls;  and  yet  there  escaped  about 
fifteen  of  us  Russians,  and  fewer  Koviians,  but  the  rest  were 
drowned  in  the  sea. 

At  that  time  Grand  Prince  Vs^volod's  son  Svyatosldv  had 
gone  to  Kordchev '  to  collect  warriors  in  the  upper  lands, 
wishing  in  the  summer  to  go  to  the  Don  against  the  P6- 
lovtses.  When  Svyatosldv  returned  and  was  at  N6vgorod 
Sy6verski,  he  heard  that  his  brothers  had  gone  against  the 
P6lovtses,  without  his  knowledge,  and  he  was  displeased. 
Svyatosldv  was  travelling  in  boats,  and  when  he  arrived  in 
Chernigov,  Byelovol6d  Pros6vich  came  to  him  and  told  him 
what  had  happened  with  the  Polovtses.  When  Svyatosldv 
heard  that,  he  sighed  much  and,  wiping  off  his  tears,  he 
said :  "  O  beloved  brothers  and  sons  and  men  of  the  Russian 
land!  Oh,  that  God  would  grant  me  to  crush  the  pagans  ! 
But  they,  impulsive  in  their  youth,  have  opened  the  gates 
into  the  Russian  land.  The  will  of  the  Lord  be  on  every- 
thing! However  sorry  I  was  for  Igor,  I  am  more  sorry  for 
Igor,  my  brother  ! ' ' 

After  that  Svyatosldv  sent  his  son  016g  and  Vladimir  into 
the  Pos6mie,*  for  when  the  cities  of  the  Pos^mie  heard  of  the 
disaster,  they  were  disturbed,  and  there  was  a  sorrow  and 
heavy  anguish  upon  them,  such  as  had  never  before  been  in 
the  whole  Pos^mie,  in  N6vgorod  Sy^verski  and  in  the  whole 
district  of  Chernigov.  They  had  heard  that  their  princes 
had  been  taken  prisoners,  and  the  druzhfna  had  been  capt- 
ured, and  killed;  and  they  became  restless,  as  if  in  turbid 
water,  and  the  cities  revolted,  and  many  had  no  care  for 
their  relatives,  but  they  renounced  their  souls,  weeping 
for  their  princes.  After  that  Svyatosldv  sent  to  David  of 
Smolensk,  saying:  "We  had  intended  to  go  against  the 
P6lovtses,  and  pass  the  summer  on  the  Don ;  but  now  the 
P61ovtses  have  vanquished  Igor,  and  his  brother  with  his 
son ;  now  come,  brother,  to  protect  the  Russian  land! ' '    And 

'  Town  in  the  country  of  the  Vydtiches. 
•  The  country  along  the  river  Sem. 


The  Kiev  Chronicle  'j^ 

David  came  to  the  Dnieper,  and  there  arrived  also  other 
help,  and  they  stopped  at  Trepol,  but  Yarosldv  collected  his 
troops  at  Chernigov. 

The  pagan  P61ovtses,  having  conquered  Igor  and  his 
brothers,  were  filled  with  great  conceit,  and  they  gathered 
all  their  tribes  against  the  Russian  land.  And  there  was  a 
strife  among  them,  for  Konchak  said:  "  Let  us  march 
against  Kiev,  where  our  brothers  and  our  Grand  Prince 
Bonyak  were  cut  down!"  But  Kza  said:  "Let  us  go 
against  the  Sem,  where  their  wives  and  children  are  left,  an 
easy  booty  for  us;  we  shall  sack  their  cities  without  dan- 
ger!"  And  thus  they  divided  into  two  parts.  Konchdk 
went  against  Percy dslavl.  He  besieged  the  city,  and  they 
fought  the  whole  day.  At  that  time  Vladimir  Glyebovich 
was  the  Prince  of  Pereydslavl.  He  being  bold  and  a  mighty 
warrior,  rode  out  of  the  city  and  rushed  against  the  enemy, 
and  then  a  few  men  of  his  druzhina  were  emboldened,  and 
they  fought  valiantly.  Many  P61ovtses  surrounded  them. 
Then  the  others,  seeing  their  Prince  hard  pressed,  rushed 
out  of  the  city,  and  saved  their  Prince,  who  was  wounded 
with  three  spear  thrusts.  This  good  Vladimir  rode  back 
into  the  city  heavily  wounded,  and  he  wiped  the  sweat  from 
his  brave  face,  having  fought  doughtily  for  his  country. 

Vladimir  sent  word  to  Svyatosldv,  and  to  Rurik,  and  to 
David:  "  The  P6lovtses  are  at  my  gates,  help  me  !  "  Svya- 
tosldv  sent  word  to  David,  who  stood  at  Trep6l  with  his 
Smolensk  troop.  The  men  of  Smolensk  held  a  council,  and 
said :  '  *  We  have  marched  to  Kiev  to  fight  in  case  there  is 
a  war  there ;  but  we  cannot  look  for  another  war,  for  we  are 
worn  out."  Svyatosldv  hurried  to  the  Dnieper  with  Rurik 
and  other  troops,  against  the  Polovtses,  and  David  went 
away  with  his  Smolensk  men.  When  the  P61ovtses  heard 
this,  they  went  away  from  Pereydslavl,  but  on  their  way  they 
attacked  Rimov.  The  Rimovans  shut  themselves  up  in  the 
city;  having  climbed  the  rampart,  two  wicker  structures 
gave  way  with  all  their  men,  God  having  so  willed,  and 
broke  in  the  direction  of  the  enemy.  Terror  fell  upon  the 
city  people.     Some  of  them  sallied  from  the  city  and  kept  up 


78  The  Oldest  Period 

a  running  fight  into  the  Rfmov  swamps,  and  thus  escaped 
capture;  but  those  who  remained  in  the  city  were  all  taken 
prisoners.  Vladimir  sent  again  to  Svyatosldv  Vs^volodich 
and  Rdrik  Rostisldvich,  imploring  them  to  come  to  his  aid. 
But  they  were  tardy  in  coming,  having  waited  for  David  with 
his  Smolensk  troop,  and  thus  they  did  not  get  there  in  time 
to  meet  the  P61ovtses.  Having  taken  the  city  of  Rimov, 
the  P61ovtses  returned  to  their  homes,  loaded  down  with 
booty.  The  princes  went  back  to  their  homes,  and  they 
were  very  sad,  and  they  were  sorry  for  Vladimir  Gly6bovich, 
for  he  was  struck  down  with  mortal  wounds,  and  they  were 
sorry  for  the  Christians  that  had  been  taken  prisoners  by  the 
pagans.     .     .     . 

The  other  P6lovtses  were  going  by  another  road  to  Putivl. 
Kza  had  a  large  host  with  him ;  they  laid  waste  the  country, 
burnt  the  villages,  and  also  burnt  the  castle  near  Putivl, 
and  returned  home  again. 

Igor  Svyatosldvich  was  that  year  with  the  P61ovtses,  and 
he  said:  "According  to  my  deserts  have  I  received  defeat  at 
Thy  hands,  my  Lord,  and  not  the  daring  of  the  pagans  has 
broken  the  might  of  Thy  servants.  I  do  not  complain  of 
my  sufifering,  for  I  have  been  punished  for  my  misdeeds.'* 
The  P61ovtses,  respecting  his  leadership,  did  not  do  him  any 
harm,  but  placed  over  him  fifteen  guards  of  their  sons,  and 
five  lords'  sons,  in  all  twenty.  They  gave  him  permission 
to  go  where  he  wanted,  and  he  went  a-hunting  with  the 
hawk,  and  there  were  with  him  five  or  six  of  his  servants. 
His  guards  obeyed  him  and  honoured  him,  and  whitherso- 
ever be  sent  them,  they  did  his  command  without  grumbling. 
He  had  brought  with  him  a  priest  from  Russia,  with  all  the 
divine  service,  for  he  did  not  know  the  divine  will,  and  he 
thought  he  would  have  to  stay  there  for  a  long  time.  But 
the  Lord  delivered  him  for  the  many  prayers  of  the  Christ- 
ians which  they  sent  up  to  heaven,  and  the  many  tears  which 
they  shed  for  him.  While  he  was  among  the  P6lovtses, 
there  was  a  man  there,  himself  a  P61ovts,  by  the  name  of 
Lav6r;  he  having  a  blessed  thought  said:  "  I  will  go  with, 
you  to  Russia!  "     At  first  Igor  had  no  confidence  in  him^ 


The  Kiev  Chronicle  79 

but  had  a  liigli  opinion  of  his  own  manliness,  for  he  did  not 
intend  to  take  the  man  and  run  with  him  into  Russia ;  he 
said:  "  For  glory's  sake  I  did  not  then  run  away  from  my 
druzhina,  and  even  now  will  I  not  walk  upon  an  inglorious 
road." 

But  there  were  with  him  the  son  of  the  thousand-man  and 
his  equerry,  and  they  pressed  him  and  said:  "  Go,  O  Prince, 
back  to  Russia,  if  the  Lord  will  deliver  you !  "  But  the  time 
was  not  propitious.  As  we  said  before,  the  Polovtses  re- 
turned from  Pereydslavl,  and  Igor's  advisers  said  to  him: 
"  You  harbour  a  proud  thought  and  one  that  is  not  pleasing 
to  God;  you  do  not  intend  to  take  the  man  and  run  with 
him,  but  why  do  you  not  consider  that  the  P61ovtses  will 
return  from  the  war,  and  we  have  heard  that  they  will  slay 
all  the  princes  and  all  the  Russians,  and  there  will  be  no 
glory  for  you,  and  you  will  lose  your  life."  Prince  Igor 
took  their  advice  to  heart,  being  afraid  of  the  return  of  the 
P61ovtses,  and  bethought  himself  of  flight.  He  was  not 
able  to  run  away  either  in  daytime  or  at  night,  for  the 
guards  watched  him,  but  he  found  an  opportune  time  at  the 
setting  of  the  sun.  And  Igor  sent  his  equerry  to  Lavor, 
saying:  "Cross  on  the  other  side  of  the  Tor  with  a  led 
horse,"  for  he  intended  to  fly  to  Russia  with  Lavor.  At 
that  time  the  P61ovtses  were  drunk  with  kumys;  and  it  was 
towards  evening  when  his  equerry  came  back  and  told  him 
that  Lav6r  was  waiting  for  him.  Igor  arose  frightened  and 
trembling,  and  bowed  before  the  image  of  the  Lord  and  the 
honourable  cross,  and  said :  ' '  Lord,  knower  of  hearts !  If 
Thou,  Master,  wilt  save  me,  unworthy  one," — and  he  took 
the  cross  and  the  image,  lifted  the  tent's  side,  and  crawled 
out.  His  guards  were  gambling  and  feasting,  for  they 
thought  that  the  Prince  was  asleep.  He  arrived  at  the  river, 
waded  across,  and  mounted  the  horse;  thus  they  both  rode 
by  the  tents. 

This  deliverance  the  Lord  granted  on  a  Friday,  in  the 
evening.  He  then  walked  eleven  days  to  the  town  of 
Donets,  and  thence  he  went  to  his  N6vgorod,  and  they  were 
much  rejoiced.     From  N6vgorod  he  went  to  his  brother 


8o  The  Oldest  Period 

Yarosldv  in  Chernigov,  to  ask  for  help  in  the  Pos^mie. 
Yarosldv  was  glad  to  see  him,  and  promised  him  aid.  Igor 
travelled  thence  to  Kiev  to  Grand  Prince  Svyatosldv,  and 
Svyatosldv  was  glad  to  see  him,  as  was  also  Rlirik. 

The   Word    of   Igor's    Armament.       (End   of  XII. 
century.) 

No  other  production  of  Russian  antiquity  bas  roused  so  much  in> 
terest  in  Russia  and  abroad  as  this  version  of  Igor's  expedition  by  an 
unknown  poet  of  the  end  of  the  twelfth  century.  Thirty-five  trans- 
lations into  modem  Russian,  numerous  translations  into  Little- 
Russian,  Polish,  Bohemian,  Servian,  Bulgarian,  Hungarian,  German, 
French,  witness  to  the  enormous  popularity  this  production  has  at- 
tained. The  historical  background  of  the  poem  is  found  in  the  re- 
cital from  the  Kiev  Chronicle,  which  is  given  on  pp.  71-80.  The 
disasters  which  befell  Igor  and  his  army  are  probably  told  with 
better  effect  in  that  prosaic  version ;  but  the  superior  value  of  the 
Word  lies  in  its  being  a  precious  relic  of  the  popular  poetry  of  the 
end  of  the  twelfth  century,  such  as  no  other  nation  can  boast  of. 
The  Nibelungenlied  and  the  Chanson  de  Roland  are  chiefly  produc- 
tions of  a  literary  character,  while  the  Word  bears  every  evidence  of 
representing  the  untutored  labour  of  a  popular  bard. 

Who  the  author  was,  when  he  lived,  for  whom  he  sang,  are  all 
unanswered  questions,  but  from  internal  evidence  we  glean  that  he 
sang  for  his  contemporaries  while  Igor  was  still  alive.  From  his 
apostrophe  to  Yarosldv  Osmomysl,  who  died  in  1187,  we  may  infer 
that  the  poem  was  written  before  that  year,  and  it  is  not  unlikely, 
from  his  vivid  description  of  the  battle  at  the  Kaydla,  that  he  was  an 
eye-witness  of  the  expedition  which  took  place  in  1185.  From  the 
absence  of  biblical  references  it  is  generally  assumed  that  the  author 
was  not  a  member  of  the  clerical  profession.  Here,  however,  various 
difficulties  arise.  It  is  quite  incomprehensible  why  there  should  be 
so  many  references  to  pagan  divinities  at  a  time  when  Christianity 
had  been  deep-rooted  in  Russia  for  fully  two  centuries  ;  why,  except 
for  the  evident  imitation  of  many  passages  in  the  Zad6nshchina, 
there  should  be  no  reference  to  the  poem  by  any  medieval  writer, 
and  why  only  one  copy  of  so  remarkable  a  work  should  have  been 
preserved.  If  this  poem  came  so  very  near  being  lost  to  posterity, 
how  many  other  remarkable  productions  of  that  early  period  have 
disappeared?  It  is  not  at  all  impossible  that  there  existed  an  ex- 
tensive popular  poetry,  of  which  only  the  barest  traces  have  come 
down  to  us.    This  suspicion  is  strengthened  by  the  emphatic  mention 


The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         8i 

by  the  author  of  the  fVord  of  a  poet  Boydn  who  had  lived  before  his 
days. 

A  copy  of  the  poem  was  discovered  by  Count  A.  I.  Mdsin-Pfishkin, 
Procurator-General  of  the  Holy  Synod,  in  1795.  He  it  was  who  in 
rummaging  St.  Petersburg  bookstalls  had  discovered  the  manuscript 
of  Nestor's  Chronicle.  From  a  monk  he  procured  a  collection  of 
eight  pieces,  the  fifth  of  which  was  this  poem.  He  published  the 
Word,  as  this  poem  is  called  in  the  manuscript,  in  1800,  with  a 
modem  Russian  translation.  The  manuscript  itself  was  burnt  in  the 
Moscow  conflagration  of  1812.  The  poem  has  since  been  edited  a 
countless  number  of  times,  and  equally  large  is  the  mass  of  critical 
essays  to  explain  the  many  dark  and  corrupt  places  of  what  now  must 
pass  for  the  original.  When  we  consider  that  there  are  not  less  than 
six  versions  of  the  Word  in  French,  it  seems  strange  that  it  is  now 
first  rendered  into  English  in  its  entirety.  There  is  an  imperfect 
translation  of  a  small  part  of  it  in  H.  H.  Munro's  The  Rise  of  the 
Russian  Empire,  Boston  and  London,  190a 


Were  it  not  well  for  us,  O  brothers,  to  commence  in  the 
ancient  strain  the  sad  story  of  the  armament  of  Igor,'  Igor 
son  of  Svyatoslav  ?  And  let  the  song  be  told  according  to 
the  accounts  of  the  time,  and  not  according  to  the  cunning 
of  Boyan  '  the  Wise,  for  Boyan  the  Wise,  when  he  wished 
to  make  a  song,  soared  with  his  thoughts  in  the  tree,  ran  as 
a  grey  wolf  over  the  earth,  flew  as  a  steel-grey  eagle  below 
the  clouds.  When  he  recalled  the  strife  of  former  time,  he 
let  loose  ten  falcons  o'er  a  flock  of  swans,  and  every  swan 
each  touched  sang  first  a  song:  to  old  Yarosldv,*  to  brave 
Mstislav  *  who  slew  Rededya  before  the  Kasog  army,  to  fair 

'  Igor  was  the  son  of  Svyatosldv  dlgovich  of  N6vgorod  Sy^verski, 
and  grandson  of  Ol^g  of  Tmiitorokan. 

'  From  the  references  to  the  princes  whose  praise  he  sang,  it  is  evid- 
ent that  he  lived  at  the  end  of  the  eleventh  and  the  beginning  of  the 
twelfth  centuries.    Nothing  else  is  known  of  this  famous  poet. 

'Yarosldv,  the  son  of  Vladimir,  lived  from  1019-1054:  he  was  the 
author  of  the  Russian  Code  (see  p.  45). 

*Mstisldv,  Prince  of  Tmfitorokan,  was  the  brother  of  Yarosldv 
(t  1036).  In  1022  he  killed  in  duel  the  giant  Redddya,  chief  of  the 
Kas6gs  who  dwelt  between  the  Black  and  Caspian  seas,  and  con- 
quered their  country. 

VOL.  I. — 6. 


82  The  Oldest  Period 

Romdn  Svyatosldvich.'  But  Bo^-du,  O  brothers,  did  not  let 
loose  ten  falcons  on  a  flock  of  swans,  but  laid  his  inspired 
fingers  on  the  living  strings,  and  they  themselves  sounded 
the  glory  to  the  princes. 

I^t  us  begin,  O  brothers,  this  tale  from  Vladimir '  of  old 
to  the  late  Igor  who  strengthened  his  soul  by  his  valour, 
and  sharpened  it  by  the  courage  of  his  heart,  and  having 
filled  himself  with  a  manly  spirit,  led  his  valiant  army  for 
the  land  of  Russia  into  the  country  of  the  P61ovtses.* 


Then  igor  looked  up  to  the  bright  sun,  and  saw  that  he 
had  covered  in  darkness  *  all  his  warriors.  And  Igor  spoke 
to  his  druzhina:  "  O  brothers  and  druzhma !  It  is  better  to 
be  cut  to  pieces  than  to  be  made  a  captive!  I/Ct  us,  O 
brothers,  mount  our  swift  horses  that  we  may  behold  the 
beautiful  Don!" 

A  strong  desire  filled  the  Prince's  soul  to  drink  from  the 
great  Don,  and  his  eagerness  blinded  him  to  the  evil  omen. 

"  For  I  wish,"  he  said,  "  to  break  the  spear  on  the  border 
of  the  P61ovts  land  together  with  you,  sons  of  Russia !  I 
want  to  lay  down  my  head,  and  drink  with  my  helmet  from 
the  Don!" 

O  Boydn,  nightingale  of  ancient  time!  It  were  for  you 
to  spell  this  army,  soaring  like  a  nightingale  over  the  tree 
of  thought,  flying  like  an  eagle  below  the  clouds,  stringing 
together  words  for  the  deeds  of  that  time,  racing  over 
Troydn's*  footsteps  over  fields   to   the   mountains.     You 

'  Romdn  was  a  brother  of  Igor's  grandfather  Ol^g ;  he  was  killed 
by  the  P61ovtses  in  1079. 

*  Vladimir  the  Great,  father  of  Yarosldv. 

'  A  Turkish  tribe,  related  to  the  Pecheny^gs,  who  called  themselves 
Cnmanians.    They  occupied  the  south  of  Russia  as  far  as  Hungry. 

*See  account  of  the  eclipse  in  the  Chronicle  (p.  72), 

*Troydn  is  counted  among  the  aucient  Russian  divinities  in  The 
Holy  Virgin'' s  Descent  into  Hell  (p.  97) ;  but  evidently  he  is  also  a 
reminiscence  of  the  Roman  Emperor  Trajan,  whose  ramparts  and 
roads  are  still  to  be  traced  along  the  Danube. 


The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         83 

ought  to  have  sung  a  song  to  Igor,  his  grandson :  ' '  Not  a 
storm  has  driven  the  falcons  over  the  broad  fields:  flocks  of 
crows  hasten  to  the  great  Don."  ...  Or  you  might 
have  sung  thus,  inspired  Boydn,  grandson  of  Vel6s  ' : 

"  The  horses  neigh  beyond  the  Sula^;  glory  resounds  in 
Kiev;  trumpets  blare  in  Novgorod  %•  the  standards  are  at 
Putivl  * ;  Igor  waits  for  his  beloved  brother  Vsevolod.  And 
Vsevolod,  the  Grim  Aurochs,  spoke  to  him:  "My  only 
brother,  my  only  light,  glorious  Igor,  we  are  both  sons  of 
Svyatosldv!  Saddle,  O  brother,  your  swift  steeds,  for  mine 
are  ready  for  you,  having  been  saddled  in  advance  at  Kursk ! 
My  Kurians  are  tried  warriors,  nurtured  by  the  sound  of 
trumpets,  rocked  in  helmets,  fed  at  the  point  of  the  spear. 
The  roads  are  known  to  them;  the  ravines  are  familiar  to 
them;  their  bows  are  drawn;  their  quivers  open,  their 
swords  —  whetted.  They  race  over  the  fields  like  grey 
wolves,  seeking  honour  for  themselves,  and  glory  for  their 
Prince." 

Ill 

Then  Prince  Igor  stepped  into  the  golden  stirrup  and 
galloped  over  the  clear  field.  The  sun  barred  his  way  in 
darkness;  night  groaning  with  the  cries  of  birds  awoke  him; 
beasts  howled,  and  Div '  called  in  the  top  of  a  tree,  sending 
the  news  to  the  unknown  land,  to  the  V6lga,  the  Sea  border," 
the  Sula  country,  Sur6zh  '  and  Korsdn,'  and  to  you,  idol  of 
Tmdtorokan ! "     But  the  P61ovtses  hastened  by  untrodden 

'  The  god  of  the  flocks,  i.  e.,  of  wealth  and  abundance.  It  is  not 
quite  clear  why  the  poet  is  called  his  grandson. 

*  Tributary  of  the  Dnieper. 

*N6vgorod   Sy^verski,    Igor's    capital,   in    the    Government   of 
Chernigov. 
*The  appanage  of  Igor's  son  Vladimir,  in  the  Government  of  Kursk. 

*  A  bird  of  ill-omen  ;  according  to  some,  divinity  of  darkness. 

•  The  border  of  the  Black  Sea. 
''  The  Azov  Sea. 

•  The  ancient  Tauric  Chersonese,  near  the  modem  Sebastopol. 

'  An  ancient  city  of  the  Khazars,  on  the  eastern  shore  of  the  Azov 
Sea,  on  the  peninsula  of  Tamdn.  It  became  a  Russian  possession  in 
the  tenth  century. 


84  The  Oldest  Period 

roads  to  the  great  Don ;  the  carts  creaked  at  midnight,  like 
swans  let  loose. 

Igor  leads  his  soldiers  to  the  Don :  the  birds  in  the  thicket 
forbode  his  misfortune;  the  wolves  bristle  up  and  howl  a 
storm  in  the  mountain  clefts;  the  eagles  screech  and  call  the 
beasts  to  a  feast  of  bones;  the  foxes  bark  for  the  crimson 
shields.  O  Russian  land,  you  are  already  beyond  the 
mound!  '  Night  is  long  and  murky;  the  dawn  withholds 
the  light;  mist  covers  the  fields;  the  nightingale's  song  is 
silent;  the  cawing  of  the  crows  is  heard.  The  Russians  bar 
the  long  fields  with  their  crimson  shields,  seeking  honour 
for  themselves  and  glory  for  the  Prince. 

IV 

Early  in  the  morning,  on  the  Friday,  they  crushed  the 
pagan  P61ovts  host,  and,  spreading  like  arrows  over  the 
field,  seized  fair  P61ovts  maidens,  and  with  them  gold  and 
gold- worked  stuffs  and  costly  velvet;  with  cloaks  and  coats 
and  P6lovts  lace  they  bridged  their  way  over  bogs  and 
muddy  places.  A  red  flag,  white  pennon,  red  panache, 
silver  cross-beam,  for  the  brave  son  of  Syyatoslav!  *  .  .  . 
Ol^g's  valiant  brood  has  flown  afar  and  dreams  in  the  field! 
They  thought  not  to  offend  the  falcon,  gerfalcon,  nor  you, 
black  raven,  pagan  Polovts!  But  Gza  ran  like  a  grey  wolf, 
with  Konchak  *  in  his  track,  to  the  great  Don. 


Very  early  the  next  morning  a  bloody  dawn  announces 
the  day.  Black  clouds  come  from  the  sea  and  try  to  veil  four 
suns,*  while  blue  lightnings  quiver  through  them.     There 

'  A  frequently  recurring  sentence,  the  meaning  of  which  seems  to 
be :  You  are  lost  beyond  redemption  ! 

'  The  trophies  won  by  Igor. 

*Gza  and  Konchdk,  khans  of  the  P61oTtses,  were  the  leaders  of  the 
expedition.     See  p.  77. 

*  The  four  suns  are  :  Igor,  his  brother  Vsdvolod,  his  son  Vladimir 
of  Putivl,  and  his  nephew  Svyatosldv  Olgovich  of  Rylsk. 


The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         85 

is  to  be  a  mighty  thunder,  and  the  rain  is  to  go  down  in 
arrows  by  the  great  Don!  There  spears  will  be  broken; 
there  swords  will  be  blunted  against  Polovts  helmets  on  the 
Kaydla,'  by  the  great  Don.  O  Russian  land,  you  are  al- 
ready beyond  the  mound! 

Behold  the  winds,  Stribog's '  grandchildren,  blow  arrows 
from  the  sea  on  Igor's  valiant  army.  The  earth  groans,  the 
rivers  flow  turbid;  dust  covers  the  fields;  the  banners  whis- 
per. The  Polovtses  come  from  the  Don,  and  from  the  sea, 
and  from  all  sides:  the  Russian  army  recedes.  The  devil's 
children  fill  the  field  with  their  cries,  but  the  brave  Russians 
line  it  with  their  crimson  bucklers. 

Grim  Aurochs  Vsevolod!  You  stand  in  the  van;  you 
pour  arrows  on  the  warriors;  you  thunder  with  steel  swords 
against  their  helmets.  Wherev^er  you,  Aurochs,  lead,  gleam- 
ing with  your  golden  helmet,  there  fall  the  heads  of  the  pagan 
P61ovtses,  their  Avar "  helmets  cloven  by  your  tempered 
swords,  Grim  Aurochs  Vsevolod!  What  wound  does  he 
brook,  O  brothers,  having  foi'gotten  his  honours  and  manner 
of  life,  and  Chernigov  town,  his  paternal  golden  throne,  and 
the  caresses  of  his  sweetheart,  Glyeb's  fair  daughter,*  and 
the  habits  and  customs  of  his  home  ? 

VI 

Troydn's  age  is  past,  gone  are  the  years  of  Yarosldv;  past 
are  the  expeditions  of  Ol^g,^  the  son  of  Svyatoslav.  That 
016g  had  fostered  discord  with  his  sword,  and  had  sowed 
arrows  over  the  land.  In  Tmutorokan  city  he  stepped  into 
the  golden  stirrup.     Great  Yarosldv,  that  was,  heard  the 

^  Tributary  of  the  Don.  '  God  of  the  winds. 

•Descendants  of  the  Avars  still  live  between  Georgia  and  Circassia. 

*  Her  name  was  Olga. 

*  Ol^g  is  the  grandfather  of  Igor.  The  poet  here  recalls  former  en- 
counters with  the  P61ovtses.  Not  having  been  able  to  agree  with  his 
uncles,  Izyasldv  who  had  occupied  the  throne  in  Kiev,  and  Vsevolod 
who  had  his  appanage  of  Chernigov,  Oldg  escaped  to  Romdn  the  Fair 
of  Tmutorokan,  and  decided  to  get  his  rights  by  means  of  arms.  He 
led  three  times  the  P61ovtses  into  Russia  (in  1078,  1079  &od  1094). 


86  The  Oldest  Period 

tocsin,'  and  Vs^volod's  son  Vladimir  closed  his  ears  all  the 
days  at  Chernigov.*  But  Glory  brought  Boris,'  the  son  of 
Vyachesldv,  before  the  judgment  seat  and  bedded  him, 
brave  young  prince,  on  the  green  feather  grass  of  the  steppe, 
through  016g's  offence.     .     .     . 

Then,  in  the  days  of  016g  Gorisldvich,*  feuds  were  sown 
and  grew,  and  Dazhb6g's  *  grandchildren  perished,  and  the 
yeiars  of  men  were  shortened  by  the  discord  of  the  princes. 
In  those  days  the  warriors  rarely  walked  behind  the  plough 
in  the  Russian  land,  but  the  ravens  croaked  as  they  divided 
the  dead  bodies,  and  crows  chattered,  flying  to  the  banquet. 
Such  were  the  wars  and  expeditions  then,  but  the  like  of 
this  war  was  never  known. 

VII 

From  early  morning  until  evening,  from  evening  until 
daylight  fly  tempered  arrows,  thunder  the  swords  against 
the  helmets,  resound  the  steel  spears  in  a  strange  field, 
within  the  country  of  the  P61ovtses.  The  black  earth  be- 
neath the  hoofs  was  sown  with  bones,  and  watered  with 
blood,  and  a  harvest  of  sorrow  went  up  in  the  Russian  land. 

What  noise  is  that,  what  din,  so  early  in  the  morning  be- 
fore dawn  ?  Igor  leads  his  army ;  he  is  sorry  for  his  beloved 
brother  Vs6volod.  They  fought  a  day,  they  fought  another* ; 
upon  the  third  at  noon  fell  the  standards  of  Igor.     The 

'  That  is,  in  the  other  world. 

'  Vladimir  Monotndkh  hastened  to  his  father's  aid.  See  his  In- 
struction, p.  55. 

•016g  and  his  cousin,  Boris,  were  at  that  time  absent  from  Cherni- 
gov. When  they  arrived  and  opposed  themselves  to  the  superior 
force  of  Izyasldv,  Ol^g  advised  Boris  to  surrender ;  but  he  would  not 
listen  and  made  an  attack  upon  his  uncle's  army  and  was  killed. 

••  Ol^g  is  called  the  son  of  *'  G6re,"  i.  e.,  woe. 

*  The  Russians  are  sons  of  Dazhb6g,  the  god  of  the  sun,  while  the 
enemy  are  the  "devil's  children." 

•  The  first  day  the  Russians  defeated  the  P61ovtses  ;  the  next,  the 
P61ovtses  defeated  the  Russians ;  on  the  third  day,  which  was  a 
Sunday,  the  Kor&ans  ran  away,  and  at  noon  Igor  was  made  prisoner. 
See  the  Chronicle,  p.  74. 


The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         87 

brothers  separated  on  the  bank  of  the  swift  Kaydla.  Here 
there  was  not  enough  of  bloody  wine;  here  the  brave  Rus- 
sians ended  the  feast :  they  gave  their  host  their  fill  to  drink, 
and  themselves  fell  for  the  Russian  land.  The  grass  withered 
from  sorrow,  and  the  trees  in  anguish  bent  down  to  the 
earth.' 

VIII 

There  befell  a  hapless  hour,  O  brothers!  Already  had  the 
wilderness  covered  Russia's  hosts,  when  Mischief  arose  in 
the  hosts  of  Dazhbog's  grandchildren:  she  walked  as  a 
maiden  in  Troyan's  land,'  splashed  her  swan  pinions  in  the 
blue  sea,'  and  splashing  them  in  the  Don,  recalled  heavy 
times. 

Through  the  feuds  of  the  princes  ruin  came  from  the 
pagans,  for  brother  spoke  to  brother:  "This  is  mine  and 
that  is  mine  also,"  and  the  princes  said  of  trifling  matters, 
**  They  are  important,"  and  created  discord  among  them- 
selves; and  the  pagans  came  from  all  sides  victorious  into 
the  Russian  land. 

Oh,  far  has  the  falcon  *  flown,  driving  the  birds  by  the  sea, 
but  Igor's  brave  army  will  rise  no  more!  Konchdk  called, 
and  Gza  raced  over  the  Russian  land,  hurling  fire  from 
a  flaming  horn.'  Russian  women  wept,  saying:  "No 
longer  will  our  thoughts  reach  our  dear  ones,  nor  shall  we 
ever  see  them  with  our  eyes,  nor  be  adorned  with  tinkling 
gold  and  silver! " 

And  Kiev  groaned  under  its  sorrow,  and  Chernfgov  on 
account  of  its  misfortunes.  Sadness  spread  over  the  Russian 
land,  and  a  heavy  gloom.  The  princes  fostered  discord 
among  themselves,  and  the  pagans  victoriously  overran  the 
country,  receiving  tribute,  a  squirrel "  from  each  house. 

It  is  Igor  and  Vs^volod,  Svyatoslav's  brave  sons,  who 
through  their  discord  had  wakened  dishonour  which  their 

'  Nature  sympathises  with  the  Russians. 

'  That  is,  far  away  ;  see  note  5,  p.  82.  'The  Sea  of  Azov. 

•*That  is,  Igor ;  the  P61ovtses  are  the  birds. 

•  The  Chronicle  says  the  P61ovtses  hurled  the  Greek  fire. 

•A  silver  coin. 


88  The  Oldest  Period 

father,  Svyatosldv  '  of  Kfev,  the  great,  the  mighty  had,  put 
to  sleep:  he  had  invaded  the  P61ovts  laud  and  had  carried 
terror  to  them,  with  his  mighty  armies  and  tempered  swords; 
had  levelled  their  hills  and  ravines,  ruflfled  their  rivers  and 
lakes,  dried  up  their  streams  and  swamps;  and,  like  a  whirl- 
wind, had  snatched  pagan  Kobydk  *  away  from  his  mighty, 
steel-clad  P61ovts  army  by  the  Azov  Sea,  until  Kobydk  fell 
in  Kfev  city,  in  the  council-room  of  Svyatosldv.  Germans, 
Venetians,  Greeks  and  Moravians  sing  the  glory  of  Svya- 
tosldv, but  blame  Prince  Igor  who  had  merged  his  wealth  in 
the  Kaydla,  the  P61ovts  river,  and  had  filled  it  with  Russian 
gold.  Here  Igor  was  unseated  from  his  golden  saddle  and 
placed  upon  the  saddle  of  a  slave. 

IX 

The  dty  walls  were  silent,  and  merriment  was  dead. 
Svyatosldv  saw  a  troubled  dream :  "  In  Kiev  on  the  mount 
you  enveloped  me  last  night,"  he  said,  *'  in  a  black  shroud 
on  a  bed  of  yew;  they  poured  out  to  me  blue  wine  mixed 
with  bitterness;  from  empty  quivers  they  showered  large 
gems  upon  my  lap,  and  tried  to  comfort  me.  Already  are 
there  boards  without  a  cross  beam  in  my  hall  of  gold,  and  all 
night  have  the  devilish  crows  been  cawing."  *    .     .     . 

The  boydrs  spoke  to  the  Prince:  "  Prince,  sorrow  ha» 
enthralled  your  mind.  Two  falcons  flew  from  their  paternal 
throne  of  gold  to  find  the  city  of  Tmtitorokan,  and  anxious 
to  drink  from  the  Don  with  their  helmets.  The  falcons' 
wings  have  been  clipped  by  the  pagan  swords,  and  they 
have  been  enmeshed  in  iron  fetters.  On  the  third  day  it 
was  dark:  two  suns  were  dimmed,*  two  red  torches  went 

■  This  Svyatosldv,  the  son  of  Vs^volod  Olgovich,  had  been  the 
Prince  of  Chernigov.  He  was  Grand  Prince  of  Kiev  from  1174-1194. 
He  had  to  give  up  his  throne  twice,  but  in  1181  ascended  it  for  the 
third  time.  He  is  called  Igor's  and  Vs^volod's  father  by  seniority, 
though  he  was  only  their  uncle  by  relationship. 

•  The  Russians  obtained  a  famous  victory  over  the  P61ovtses,  of 
whom  7000  were  taken  prisoners,  in  1184. 

*  A  series  of  evil  omens.  *  Igor  and  Vs^volod. 


•   The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         89 

out,  and  with  them  two  young  moons,  Ol6g '  and  Svyatosldv, 
were  shrouded  in  darkness.  On  Kayala  river  darkness 
veiled  the  day :  the  P61ovtses  had  invaded  the  Russian  land, 
like  a  litter  of  lynxes.  .  .  .  Fair  Gothic  *  maidens  sing 
upon  the  shore  of  the  blue  sea,  tinkling  with  the  Russian 
gold :  they  sing  the  times  of  Bus,  recall  Sharokdn's  *  revenge. 
But  we,  your  druzhina,  are  anxious  for  the  feast." 

Then  great  Svyatoslav  uttered  golden  words,  mingled  with 
tears:  "Oh,  my  nephews,  Igor  and  Vsevolod!  Too  early 
did  you  begin  to  strike  the  land  of  the  Polovtses  with  your 
swords,  and  to  seek  glory  for  yourselves.  You  were  van- 
quished ingloriously,  for  ingloriously  have  you  spilled  the 
blood  of  the  pagans!  Your  brave  hearts  are  forged  with 
hard  steel  and  tempered  in  daring  exploits.  See  what  you 
have  done  with  my  silvery  hair!  I  no  longer  see  with  me 
my  mighty,  warlike  brother  Izyasldv  with  his  Chernigov 
druzhfna.  .  .  .  They  overwhelmed  their  enemies  with 
dirks,  not  bearing  bucklers,  but  raising  a  warcry  and  re- 
sounding the  glory  of  their'  forefathers.  But  you  spoke: 
'  We  alone  will  vanquish !  Let  us  ourselves  gain  the  future 
glory,  and  share  the  glory  of  our  fathers! '  Why  should 
not  an  old  man  feel  young  again  ?  When  the  falcon  is 
moulting,  he  drives  the  birds  far  away,  and  allows  not  his 
nest  to  be  hurt.  But  alas,  the  princes  will  not  aid  me!  My 
years  have  turned  to  nothing.  At  Rim  *  they  cry  under  the 
swords  of  the  P61ovtses,  and  Vladimir '  groans  under  his 
wounds.  Bitterness  and  sorrow  has  befallen  the  son  of 
Glyeb!" 

'  Probably  the  son  of  Igor ;  but  he  was  only  eleven  years  old  during 
the  expedition. 

*  Descendants  of  the  Goths  who  had  settled  along  the  Black  Sea 
had  been  found  and  described  as  late  as  the  sixteenth  and  even 
seventeenth  centuries  in  the  Crimea  and  in  the  Tamdn  peninsula. 

*  These  Gothic  girls  evidently  sang  the  exploits  of  P61ovts  princes. 
Sharokdn  had  made  an  incursion  into  Rtissia  in  1107,  but  he  was  de- 
feated and  had  to  flee.  In  mi  Sharokdn  returned  with  an  immense 
army  to  avenge  his  defeat. 

*  Now  R6men,  in  the  Government  of  Poltdva. 

'  Vladimir  of  Pereydslavl.     See  the  Chronicle,  p.  78. 


90  The  Oldest  Period 


Grand  Prince  Vs^volod ! '  Fly  from  afar  not  only  in 
thought,  but  come  to  protect  your  paternal  throne :  for  you 
could  dry  up  the  V61ga '  with  your  oars,  and  empty  the  Don 
with  your  helmets.  If  you  were  here,  a  P6lovts  slave-girl 
would  be  worth  a  dime,  and  a  man-slave — half  a  rouble.* 
And  you  know,  together  with  the  brave  sons  of  Glyeb,  how 
to  hurl  the  Greek  fire  on  land. 

You,  Grim  Aurochs  Riirik  and  David !  *  Did  not  your 
golden  helmets  swim  in  blood  ?  Did  not  your  valiant  dru- 
zhina  bellow  like  aurochses,  when  they  were  wounded  by 
tempered  swords  in  a  strange  field  ?  Put  your  feet,  O  lords, 
into  your  golden  stirrups  to  avenge  the  insult  to  the  Russian 
land,  the  wounds  of  Igor,  the  valiant  son  of  Svyatosldv ! 

Yarosldv  Osmomysl  of  Gdlich!  *  You  sit  high  upon  your 
throne  wrought  of  gold,  propping  with  your  iron-clad  army 
the  Carpathian  mountains,  barring  the  king's  path,  closing 
the  gates  of  the  Danube,  hurling  missiles  higher  than  the 
clouds,  sitting  in  judgment  as  far  as  the  Danube.  Your 
thunders  pass  over  the  land,  and  you  hold  the  key  to  the 
gates  of  Kiev;  sitting  on  your  paternal  throne,  you  slay 
the  sultans  in  their  lands.  Slay,  O  lord,  Konchdk,  the 
pagan  \'illain,  to  avenge  the  Russian  land,  the  wounds 
of  Igor,  the  valiant  son  of  Svyatosldv! 

And    you,    valiant    Romdn  *    and    Mstisldv!     A  brave 

'  Vs6volod  Ytirevich,  Prince  of  Sfizdal,  whose  father,  Yiiri  Dol- 
goriiki,  had  been  Grand  Prince  at  Kiev. 

'In  1 183  Vs^volod  made  an  expedition  against  the  Bulgarians  of  the 
'V61ga  ;  he  went  down  the  V61ga  as  far  as  Kaz&n,  and  then  proceeded 
on  foot. 

'That  is,  if  Vs^volod  were  there,  he  would  be  so  victorious  against 
the  P61ovtses  as  to  lower  the  price  of  P61ovts  slaves. 

*  The  sons  of  Rostisldv  Mstisldvich,  and  great-grandchildren  of 
Vl&dimir  Monomdkh. 

'  Yarosldv  Osmomysl  (tii87)  was  the  Prince  of  Gdlich,  which  in 
his  days  extended  as  far  as  the  Prut  and  the  Danube  and  included 
part  of  Moldavia.     His  daughter  was  Igor's  wife, 

•Romdn  Mstisldvich  (f  1205),  Prince  of  Volhynia,  twice  occupied 
the  throne  in  Gdlich.     He  fought  successfully  against  the  Lithuanians 


The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         91 

thought  carries  you  into  action.'  You  fly  high  in  your  on- 
slaught, like  a  falcon  circling  in  the  air,  about  to  swoop 
down  upon  the  birds.  You  wear  iron  hauberks  under  Latin 
helmets,  and  the  earth  has  trembled  from  you  in  many  a 
pagan  land:  the  Lithuanians,  Yatvyagaus,  Derem61ans  and 
Polovtses  threw  down  their  warclubs  and  bent  their  heads 
under  those  tempered  swords.  But  now,  O  Prince,  Igor's 
sun  is  dimmed, — the  tree,  alas,  has  shed  its  leaves.  Along 
the  Ros '  and  the  Sula  the  Polovtses  have  sacked  the  towns, 
but  Igor's  brave  army  will  rise  no  more.  The  Don  calls  you, 
O  Prince,  and  the  other  princes  to  victory ! 

Oleg's  sons  have  hastened  to  the  war.  Ingvar  and 
Vs^volod,"  and  the  three  sons  of  Mstislav,*  a  mighty  winged 
brood !  Not  by  the  lot  of  war  have  you  acquired  power.  Of 
what  good  are  your  golden  helmets,  and  Polish  warclubs  and 
shields?  Bar  the  enemy's  way  with  your  sharp  arrows,  to 
avenge  the  Russian  land,  the  wounds  of  Igor,  the  valiant  son 
of  Svyatosldv ! 

'XI 

The  Sula  no  longer  flows  with  a  silvery  stream  by  Pereyd- 
slavl  town,'  and  the  Dvind  flows  turbid  by  mighty  P61otsk, 
agitated  by  the  pagans.      Izyaslav,'  Vasilko's  son,  alone 

and  Yatvydgans,  and  when  he  was  Prince  of  Gdlich  he  saved  Con- 
stantinople from  the  impending  danger  of  a  P61ovts  and  Pechenydg 
invasion.  The  Chronicle  says  of  him :  "  He  rushed  against  the 
pagans  like  a  lion,  raged  like  a  lynx,  and  destroyed  them  like  a 
crocodile,  and  crossed  their  lands  like  an  eagle,  for  he  was  as  brave 
as  an  aurochs,"  and  "The  P61ovtses  used  to  frighten  their  children 
with  his  name  " 

'  Mstisldv  was  probably  the  brother  of  Ingvar  and  Vsdvolod,  men- 
tioned below. 

*  Tributary  of  the  Dnieper. 

'The  sons  of  Yarosldv  Izyasldvich,  Prince  of  Lutsk,  who  was 
Grand  Prince  of  Kiev  in  1173. 

*Romdn,  Svyatosldv  and  Vs^volod,  sons  of  Mstisldv,  great-grand- 
children of  Vladimir  Monomdkh. 

*The  P61ovtses  divided  among  themselves  the  towns  along  the 
Suld.     See  the  Chronicle,  p.  77. 

'  Izyasldv's  appanage  was  Gor6dno,  in  the  Government  of  Minsk, 
hence  farther  down  "The  trumpets  blare  at  Gor6dno." 


9«  The  Oldest  Period 

made  his  sharp  swords  ring  agaiust  the  Lithuanian  helmets, 
outstripping  the  glory  of  his  grandfather  Vsesldv,  but  him- 
self was  worsted  by  Lithuanian  swords,  and  fell  under  crim- 
son shields,  upon  the  bloodstained  grass.  Lying  on  his 
death-bed,  he  spoke':  "O  Prince,  the  birds  have  covered 
your  druzhina  with  their  wings,  and  the  beasts  have  lapped 
their  blood."  There  was  not  present  the  brother  Bryachis- 
Idv,  nor  the  other,  Vs^volod;  alone  he  lost  the  pearl  soul 
out  of  his  valiant  body  through  the  golden  necklace.  The 
voices  were  subdued,  merriment  died  away.  The  trumpets 
blare  at  Gor6dno. 

Yarosldv  and  all  grandchildren  of  Vsesldv ! '  Furl  your 
standards,  sheath  your  blunted  swords,  for  you  have  leaped 
away  from  your  grandfather's  glory!  You  have  with  your 
discords  invited  the  pagan  hosts  against  the  Russian  land, 
against  the  life  of  Vsesldv,  for  through  your  strife  has  come 
the  enslavement  by  the  P61ovts  land. 

In  the  seventh  age  of  Troy dn,'  Vsesldv  cast  his  lot  for  his 
beloved  maiden.*  He  bestrode  his  horse,  and  galloped  to 
the  city  of  Kiev,  and  with  the  thrust  of  the  spear  possessed 
himself  of  golden-throned  Kiev.  He  galloped  hence  as  a 
grim  beast  to  the  south  of  By^lgorod,'  and  disappeared  in 
the  blue  mist ;  next  morning  he  clanked  with  the  battering- 
ram,  and  opened  the  gates  of  N6vgorod;  he  shattered  the 
glory  of  Yarosldv,*  and  raced  as  a  wolf  to  the  Nemiga  from 
Dudiitki.^ 

'  Izyasldv  addresses  himself. 

•  These  are  opposed  to  the  brave  Izyasldv,  who  is  also  a  descendant 
of  Vsesldv.  Vsesldv  Bryachisldvich,  Prince  of  P61otsk,  was,  in  1064, 
defeated  by  Izyasldv  and  his  brothers  on  the  Nemiga ;  later  he  was 
enticed  by  Izyasldv  to  Kiev,  where  he  was  imprisoned.  In  1067 
Izyasldv  was  driven  out  by  the  Kievans,  and  Vsesldv  was  made  Grand 
Prince.  Izyasldv  attacked  Vsesldv  at  By^lgorod,  but  the  latter  fled 
to  P61otsk. 

'  The  exact  meaning  of  the  "seventh  age  of  Troydn  "  is  not  known  j 
some  distant  time  is  designated. 
*That  is,  for  Kiev.  'Ten  versts  from  Kiev. 

•  Tributary  of  the  Svlsloch,  in  the  Government  of  Minsk. 
Near  N6vgorod. 


The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         93 

On  the  Nemiga,  ricks  are  stacked  with  heads,  and  they 
flail  with  tempered  chains;  the  body  is  placed  on  the  thresh- 
ing-floor, and  the  soul  is  winnowed  from  the  body.  Not 
with  grain  were  sown  the  bloody  banks  of  the  Nemiga,  but 
with  the  bones  of  Russian  sons. 

Prince  Vseslav  sat  in  judgment  over  his  people,  appor- 
tioned cities  to  the  princes,  but  himself  raced  a  wolf  in  the 
night,  and  by  cockcrow  reached  from  Kiev  to  Tmutorokan, 
and  as  a  wolf  crossed  the  path  of  great  Khors.*  When  they 
rang  the  bell  in  the  church  of  St.  Sophia  for  matins,  early  in 
the  morning  at  P61otsk,  he  heard  the  ringing  in  Kiev. 
Though  his  cunning  soul  could  pass  into  another  body,  yet 
he  often  suffered  woe.  Thus  wise  Boyan  of  old  has  justly 
said:  "Neither  the  cunning,  nor  the  agile,  nor  the  swift 
bird  can  escape  the  judgment  of  the  Lord!  " 

Oh,  the  Russian  land  must  groan  as  it  recalls  the  former 
days  and  the  ancient  princes!  It  was  not  possible  to  nail 
Vladimir  to  the  hills  of  Kiev " :  now  there  are  standards  of 
Rlirik,  and  others  of  David.*     ... 

XII 

Yaroslavna's •  voice  is  heard;  like  a  cuckoo  in  a  lonely 
spot  she  calls  plaintively  in  the  morniflg:  "  I  will  fly,"  she 
says,  "  like  a  cuckoo  along  the  Danube,*  will  wet  my  beaver 
sleeve  in  the  river  Kayala,  will  wipe  off  the  Prince's  bloody 
wounds  on  his  manly  body!  " 

Yaroslavna  weeps  ;n  the  morning  at  Putivl  town  on  the 
wall,  saying:  "O  wind,  mighty  wind!  Why,  master,  do 
you  blow  so  strong  ?  Why  do  you  on  your  light  wings  carry 
the  Khan's  arrows  against  the  warriors  of  my  beloved  one? 

'  The  chronicles  and  popular  tradition  make  Vsesldv  a  -werewolf 
and  a  sorcerer. 

'  Another  name  for  Dazhb6g,  the  god  of  the  sun. 
'  That  is,  for  ever  to  retain  Vladimir  in  Kiev. 

*  Now  there  is  discord. 

^Evfrosiniya  (Euphrosyne),  daughter  of  Yarosldv  Osmomysl  of 
Gdlich,  Igor's  second  wife. 

•  A  standing  formula  for  rivers  in  general,  here  the  Kaydla. 


94  The  Oldest  Period 

Is  it  not  enough  for  you  to  blow  on  high  below  the  clouds, 
rocking  the  ships  on  the  blue  sea  ?  Why,  master,  have  you 
dispersed  my  happiness  over  the  grass  of  the  steppe  ?  " 

Yarosldvna  weeps  in  the  morning  at  Putivl  town  on  the 
wall,  saying:  "O  famous  Dnieper,  you  have  pierced  the 
rocky  mountains  across  the  country  of  the  P61ovtses !  You 
have  rocked  on  your  waves  the  boats  of  Svyatoslav  as  far  as 
the  army  of  Kobdk. '  Fondly  bring  to  me,  master,  my  sweet- 
heart, that  I  may  not  in  the  morning  send  tears  after  him 
out  to  sea." 

Yarosldvna  weeps  in  the  morning  at  Putivl  town  on  the 
wall,  saying:  "Bright,  three  times  bright  sun,  you  give 
warmth  and  joy  to  all!  Why,  master,  have  you  thrust  your 
burning  beams  on  the  warriors  of  my  beloved  one  ?  Why 
have  you  in  the  waterless  plain  dried  up  their  bows,  and 
sealed  their  quivers  in  sorrow  ? ' ' 

XIII 

The  sea  is  agitated  at  midnight:  mists  are  borne  in  the 
darkness.  God  shows  to  Igor  a  way  out  of  the  land  of  the 
P6lovtses  into  the  country  of  Russia  to  his  father's  golden 
throne.  The  evening  twilight  has  gone  out.  Igor  sleeps; 
Igor  is  awake:  Igor  in  his  thought  measures  the  plains  from 
the  great  Don  to  the  small  Donets.  His  steed  is  ready  at 
midnight.  Ovltir  whistles  beyond  the  river,  gives  a  sign  to 
the  Prince, — Prince  Igor  will  be  no  more ! 

The  earth  resounded,  the  grass  rustled,  the  P6lovts  tents 
trembled.  But  Igor  raced  like  an  ermine  in  the  reeds,  like 
a  white  duck  over  the  water;  he  jumped  on  a  swift  steed, 
dismounted  as  a  light-footed  wolf,  and  hastened  to  the  plain 
of  the  Don6ts;  and  as  a  falcon  flew  through  the  mist,  killing 
geese  and  swans  for  his  breakfast  and  dinner  and  supper. 
When  Igor  flew  as  a  falcon,  Ovlur  raced  as  a  wolf,  shaking 
off  the  cold  dew,  for  they  had  worn  out  their  swift  steeds. 

The  Don6ts  spoke :  ' '  Prince  Igor,  great  is  your  honour, 
and  the  grief  to  Konchdk,  and  joy  to  the  Russian  land! " 

'  Expedition  of  1184. 


The  Word  of  Igor's  Armament         95 

Igor  spoke:  "O  Don6ts,  great  is  your  honour,  having 
rocked  the  Prince  on  your  wave,  having  spread  out  for  him 
the  green  grass  on  your  silver  banks,  having  cloaked  him 
with  warm  mists  under  green  trees.  You  have  guarded 
him  as  a  duck  on  the  water,  as  a  gull  on  the  waves,  as  a 
mallard  in  the  air.  Not  thus  the  river  Stdgna':  though 
having  a  scanty  stream,  it  has  swallowed  other  brooks,  and 
has  spread  the  floods  over  the  bushes.  To  the  young  Prince 
Rostisldv  the  Dnieper  has  closed  its  dark  banks.  Rostisldv's 
mother  weeps  for  the  young  Prince.  The  flowers  faded  in 
their  sorrow,  and  the  trees  bent  in  anguish  to  the  ground." 

It  is  not  magpies  that  are  in  a  flutter:  Gza  and  Konchak 
ride  in  Igor's  track.  Then  the  raven  did  not  croak,  the 
jackdaws  were  silent,  the  magpies  did  not  chatter,  only 
leaped  from  branch  to  branch.  The  woodpeckers  indicated 
the  road  to  the  river  by  their  pecking;  the  nightingales  an- 
nounced the  day  by  their  merr}'  song. 

Said  Gza  to  Konchak:  "  Since  the  falcon  is  fl3'^ing  to  his 
nest,  let  us  shoot  the  fledgling  *  with  our  golden  darts." 

Said  Konchak  to  Gza:  "  Since  the  falcon  is  flying  to  his 
nest,  let  us  enmesh  the  fledgling  with  a  fair  maiden!  " 

And  Gza  spoke  to  Konchdk:  "  If  we  enmesh  him  with  a 
fair  maiden,  we  shall  have  neither  the  young  falcon,  nor  the 
fair  maiden,  and  the  birds  will  attack  us  in  the  P61oyis 
plain." 


L 


XIV 


Joydn  has  said:  "  Hard  it  is  for  you,  O  head,  to  be  with- 
out your  shoulders;  ill  it  is  for  you,  O  body,  to  be  without  a 
head."     Even  so  is  the  Russian  land  without  Igor. 

The  sun  shines  in  the  heaven, — Prince  Igor  in  the  land  of 

'  A  swampy  river  in  the  Government  of  Kiev.  Rostisldv  Vs^volodo- 
vich,  the  son  of  Vs^volod  and  Anna,  the  daughter  of  a  P61ovts  Khan, 
and  the  brother  of  Vladimir  Monomdkh.  After  an  unsuccessful  at- 
tack upon  the  P61ovtses,  he  escaped  from  captivity  by  jumping  into 
the  St6gna,  but  being  in  heavy  armour  he  was  drowued. 

'  Vladimir,  the  son  of  Igor,  who  was  also  taken  captive.  He  really 
married  Konchdk's  daughter  and  returned  with  her  to  Kliev  in  1187. 


9^  The  Oldest  Period 

Russia!  Maidens  sing  at  the  Danube:  their  voices  are  car- 
ried over  the  sea  to  Kiev.  Igor  rides  over  the  Borfchev,'  to 
the  church  of  the  Holy  Virgin  of  Pirog6shch.  The  country- 
is  happy,  the  towns  rejoice;  they  sing  songs  to  the  elder 
princes,  and  then  to  the  younger.  Let  us  sing  the  glory  of 
Igor  Svyatosldvich,  of  Grim  Aurochs  Vs^volod,  Vladimir 
Igorevich !  Hail,  princes  and  druzhina,  who  battle  for  the 
Christians  against  the  pagan  host!  Glory  to  the  princes 
and  the  druzhina !    Amen ! 

The  Holy  Virgin's  Descent  into  Hell.    (XH.  century.) 

In  spite  of  the  prohibition  of  the  Church,  apocryphal  literature 
reached  Russia  from  Byzantium  by  way  of  Bulgaria,  and  not  only 
spread  all  over  Russia  as  a  possession  of  the  people,  but  even  crept 
into  ecclesiastical  literature,  serving  frequently  the  same  purpose  as 
the  writings  of  the  Church  Fathers.  These  apocryphal  productions, 
of  which  there  is  a  very  large  number,  held  sway  over  the  people 
from  the  twelfth  to  the  seventeenth  century,  and  even  now  form  the 
background  of  many  popular  tales  and  songs,  especially  of  those  of 
the  "wandering  people"  and  beggars.  One  of  the  most  beautiful 
stories  of  this  kind  is  The  Holy .  Virgin's  Descent  into  Hell,  the 
Russian  manuscript  of  which  goes  back  to  the  twelfth  century. 
Similar  stories  were  also  current  in  Italy,  where  there  were  colonies 
of  Bulgarian  Mauicheans,  who  were  most  active  in  disseminating 
them.  Dante  was,  no  doubt,  acquainted  with  them  when  he  wrote 
his  Divine  Comedy. 

The  Holy  Virgin  wished  to  see  the  tonne«ts  of  the  souls, 
and  She  spoke  to  Michael,  the  archistrategos:  "  Tell  me  all 
things  that  are  upon  earth ! ' '  And  Michael  said  to  Her:  '  *  As 
you  say,  Blessed  One:  I  shall  tell  you  all  things."  And 
the  Holy  Virgin  said  to  him:  "How  many  torments  are  there, 
that  the  Christian  race  is  suffering?  "  And  the  archistrate- 
gos said  to  Her:  "Uncountable  are  the  torments!  "  And  the 
Blessed  One  spoke  to  him:  "Show  me,  in  heaven  and  upon 
earth!" 

Then  the  archistrategos  ordered  the  angels  to  come  from 
the  south,  and  Hell  was  opened.     And  She  saw  those  that 

'  The  slope  of  the  mountain  near  Kiev,  where  to-day  is  the  suburb 
ofPod6L 


The  Virgin's  Descent  into  Hell        97 

were  suffering  in  Hell,  and  there  was  a  great  number  of  men 
and  women,  and  there  was  much  weeping.  And  the  Blessed 
One  asked  the  archistrategos:  "  Who  are  these  ?  "  And  the 
archistrategos  said:  "  These  are  they  who  did  not  believe  in 
the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  but  forgot  God 
and  believed  in  things  which  God  has  created  for  our  sakes ; 
they  called  everything  God:  the  sun  and  the  moon,  the 
earth  and  water,  beasts  and  reptiles.  They  changed  Troyan, 
Khors,  Vel6s,  Perun*  to  gods,  and  believed  in  evil  spirits. 
They  are  even  now  held  in  evil  darkness,  therefore  they 
suffer  such  torments." 

And  She  saw  in  another  place  a  great  darkness.  Said  the 
Holy  Lady:  "What  is  this  darkness,  and  who  are  those 
who  dwell  therein?"  Spoke  the  archistrategos:  "Many 
souls  dwell  in  this  place."  Spoke  the  Holy  Virgin:  "Let 
the  darkness  be  dispersed  that  I  may  see  the  torment."  And 
the  angels  who  watched  over  the  torment  answered:  "  We 
have  been  enjoined  not  to  let  them  see  light  until  the  coming 
of  your  blessed  Son  who  is  brighter  than  seven  suns."  And 
the  Holy  Virgin  was  saddened,  and  She  raised  Her  eyes  to 
the  angels  and  looked  at  the  invisible  throne  of  Her  Father 
and  spoke:  "In  the  name  of  the  Father  and  the  Son  and  the 
Holy  Ghost!  Let  the  darkness  be  taken  off  that  I  may  see 
this  torment." 

And  the  darkness  was  lifted,  and  seven  heavens  were  seen, 
and  there  dwelt  there  a  great  multitude  of  men  and  women, 
and  there  was  loud  weeping  and  a  mighty  noise.  When  the 
Holy  Virgin  saw  them.  She  spoke  to  them,  weeping  tears: 
"  What  have  you  done,  wretched  and  unworthy  people,  and 
what  has  brought  you  here  ? ' '  There  was  no  voice,  nor 
an  answer  from  them.  And  the  watching  angels  spoke: 
"  Wherefore  do  you  not  speak  ?  "  And  the  tormented  said: 
"  Blessed  One!  We  have  not  seen  light  for  a  long  time,  and 
we  cannot  look  up."  The  Holy  Virgin  looking  at  them 
wept  bitterly.    And  the  tormented,  seeing  Her,  said:  "  How 

'  Pagan  divinities.  For  Troydn,  see  note  on  p.  82  ;  Khors,  the  god 
of  the  sun  (</.  note  on  p.  93) ;  Vel6s,  the  god  of  abundance  {cf.  note 
on  p.  83) ;  Perdn,  the  god  of  thunder  (see  p.  70). 


98  The  Oldest  Period 

is  it,  Holy  Virgin,  you  have  visited  us  ?  Your  blessed  Son 
came  upon  earth  and  did  not  ask  for  us,  nor  Abraham  the 
patriarch,  nor  Moses  the  prophet,  nor  John  the  Baptist,  nor 
Paul  the  apostle,  the  Lord's  favourite.  But  you.  Holy  Virgin 
and  intercessor,  you  are  a  protection  for  the  Christian 
people."  .  .  .  Then  spoke  the  Holy  Virgin  to  Michael 
the  archistrategos:  "What  is  their  sin?"  And  Michael 
said :  * '  These  are  they  who  did  not  believe  in  the  Father 
and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  nor  in  you.  Holy  Virgin ! 
They  did  not  want  to  proclaim  your  name,  nor  that  from 
you  was  born  our  Lord  Jesus  Christ  who,  having  come  in  the 
flesh,  has  sanctified  the  earth  through  baptism :  it  is  for  this 
that  they  are  tormented  here."  Weeping  again,  the  Holy 
Virgin  spoke  to  them:  "  Wherefore  do  you  live  in  error? 
Do  you  not  know  that  all  creation  honours  my  name?" 
When  the  Holy  Virgin  said  this,  darkness  fell  again  upon 
them. 

The  archistrategos  spoke  to  Her:  "  Whither,  Blessed  One, 
do  you  want  to  go  now  ?  To  the  south,  or  to  the  north  ? '  * 
The  Blessed  One  spoke :  ' '  Let  us  go  out  to  the  south ! ' '  And 
there  came  the  cherubim  and  the  seraphim  and  four  hundred 
angels,  and  took  the  Holy  Virgin  to  the  south  where  there 
was  a  river  of  fire.  There  was  a  multitude  of  men  and 
women  there,  and  they  stood  in  the  river,  some  to  their 
waists,  some  to  their  shoulders,  some  to  their  necks  and  some 
above  their  heads.  Seeing  this,  the  Holy  Virgin  wept  aloud 
and  asked  the  archistrategos:  "  Who  are  they  that  are  im- 
merged  up  to  their  waists  in  the  fire  ?  "  And  the  archistrat- 
egos said  to  Her:  "  They  are  those  who  have  been  cursed  by 
their  fathers  and  mothers, — for  this  the  cursed  ones  suflFer 
torment  here."  And  the  Holy  Virgin  said:  "And  those 
who  are  in  the  fiery  flame  up  to  their  necks,  who  are  they  ?  " 
The  angel  said  to  Her:  "  They  are  those  who  have  eaten 
human  flesh, — for  this  they  are  tormented  here."  And  the 
Holy  One  said:  "  Those  who  are  immerged  in  the  fiery  flame 
above  their  heads,  who  are  they  ?  ' '  And  the  archistrategos 
spoke:  "  Those  are  they,  Lady,  who  holding  the  cross  have 
sworn  falsely."     .     ,     .    The  Holy  One  spoke  to  the  archi- 


The  Virgin's  Descent  into  Hell        99 

strategos:  "  I  beg  you  this  one  thing,  let  me  also  enter,  that 
I  may  suflfer  together  with  the  Christians,  for  they  have 
called  themselves  the  children  of  my  Son. ' '  And  the  archi- 
strategos  said :  * '  Rest  yourself  in  paradise ! ' '  And  the  Holy 
One  said :  "  I  beg  you,  move  the  hosts  of  the  seven  heavens 
and  all  the  host  of  the  angels  that  we  may  pray  for  the  sin- 
ners, and  God  may  accept  our  prayer  and  have  mercy  upon 
them.  I  beg  you,  order  the  angelic  host  to  carry  me  to  the 
heavenly  height  and  to  take  me  before  the  invisible  Father!  " 

The  archistrategos  so  ordered,  and  there  appeared  the 
cherubim  and  seraphim  and  carried  the  Blessed  One  to  the 
heavenly  height,  and  put  Her  down  at  the  throne  of  the  in- 
visible Father.  She  raised  Her  hands  to  Her  blessed  Son  and 
said:  "  Have  mercy,  O  Master,  upon  the  sinners,  for  I  have 
seen  them,  and  I  could  not  endure :  let  me  be  tormented  to- 
gether with  the  Christians!  "  And  there  came  a  voice  to 
Her  and  said :  ' '  How  can  I  have  mercy  upon  them  ?  I  see  the 
nails  in  my  Son's  hands."  And  She  said:  "  Master!  I  do 
not  pray  for  the  infidel  Jews,  but  for  the  Christians  I  ask 
Thy  forgiveness!  "  And  a  voice  came  to  Her:  "  I  see  how 
they  have  had  no  mercy  upon  my  children,  so  I  can  have  no 
mercy  upon  them." 

Spoke  again  the  Holy  One:  "  Have  mercy,  O  Master, 
upon  the  sinners, — the  creation  of  Thine  own  hands,  who 
proclaim  Thy  name  over  the  whole  earth  and  even  in  their 
torments,  and  who  in  all  places  say:  "Most  Holy  Lady, 
Mother  of  God,  aid  us !  "  Then  the  Lord  spoke  to  Her : 
' '  Hear,  Holy  Mother  of  God !  There  is  not  a  man  who  does 
not  praise  Thy  name,  I  will  not  abandon  them,  neither  in 
heaven,  nor  upon  earth."  And  the  Holy  Virgin  said: 
* '  Where  is  Moses,  the  prophet  ?  Where  are  all  the  prophets  ? 
And  you,  fathers,  who  have  never  committed  a  sin  ?  Where 
is  Paul,  God's  favourite  ?  Where  is  the  Sunday,  the  pride  of 
the  Christian  ?  And  where  is  the  power  of  the  worshipful 
cross  through  which  Adam  and  Eve  were  delivered  from 
their  curse  ?  "  Then  Michael  the  archistrategos  and  all  the 
angels  spoke:  "  Have  mercy,  O  Master,  upon  the  sinners!  " 
And  Moses  wept  loud  and  said:  "  Have  mercy  upon  them. 


loo  The  Oldest  Period 

O  Lord!  Fori  have  given  them  Thy  Law!"  And  John 
wept  and  said :  '  *  Have  mercy,  O  Master !  I  preached  Thy 
gospel  to  them."  And  Paul  wept  and  said:  "  Have  mercy, 
O  Master!     For  I  carried  Thine  epistles  to  the  churches." 

And  those  that  were  in  the  darkness  heard  of  this,  and 
they  all  wept  with  one  voice  and  said :  ' '  Have  mercy 
upon  us,  Son  of  God!  Have  mercy  upon  us,  King  of  all 
eternity!"  And  the  Master  said:  "Hear  all!  I  have 
planted  paradise,  and  created  man  according  to  my  image, 
and  made  him  lord  over  paradise,  and  gave  him  eternal  life. 
But  they  have  disobeyed  me  and  sinned  in  their  selfishness 
and  delivered  themselves  to  death.  .  .  .  You  became 
Christians  only  in  words,  and  did  not  keep  mj"-  commands;  for 
this  you  find  yourselves  now  in  the  fire  everlasting,  and  I 
ought  not  to  have  mercy  upon  you !  But  to-day,  through  the 
goodness  of  my  Father  who  sent  me  to  you,  and  through  the 
intercession  of  my  Mother  who  wept  much  for  you,  and 
through  Michael,  the  archistrategos  of  the  gospel,  and 
through  the  multitude  of  my  martyrs  who  have  laboured 
much  in  your  behalf,  I  give  you  from  Good  Thursday  to  the 
holy  Pentecost,  day  and  night,  for  a  rest,  and  you  praise  the 
Father  and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost!  "  And  they  all 
answered :  **  Glory  be  to  Thy  goodness !  Glory  to  the  Father 
and  the  Son  and  the  Holy  Ghost,  now  and  for  ever!  " 


if.  cei 


Daniel  the  Prisoner.    (XI 11.  century.) 

For  some  unknown  reason  Daniel  had  been  imprisoned  in  an 
island  in  the  Lake  of  Lach,  in  the  Government  of  016netsk.  He 
seems  to  have  belonged  to  the  druzhina  of  Yarosldv  Vs^volodovich 
of  Pereydslavl,  who  died  in  1247  as  Grand  Prince  of  Vladimir,  That 
is  all  that  is  known  about  the  life  of  this  layman,  one  of  the  few  in 
the  old  period  whose  writing  has  come  down  to  our  times.  The  beg- 
ging letter  which  he  addressed  to  the  Prince  is  composed  of  incor- 
rectly quoted  biblical  passages  and  popular  saws  and  proverbs ;  many 
of  these  he  drew  from  an  ancient  collection,  The  Bee,  in  which  moral 
subjects  are  arranged  in  chapters.  In  their  turn,  Daniel's  saws  have 
largely  entered  into  the  composition  of  a  very  popular  collection  of  the 
same  kind,  The  Emerald. 


Daniel  the  Prisoner  loi 

LETTER  TO  PRINCE  YAROSI.AV 

vs:g;voi.ODoviCH 

We  will  blare  forth,  O  brothers,  on  the  reasoning  of  our 
mind,  as  on  a  trumpet  forged  of  gold.  We  will  strike  the 
silver  organs,  and  will  proclaim  our  wisdom,  and  will  strike 
the  thoughts  of  our  mind,  playing  on  the  God-inspired  reeds, 
that  our  soul-saving  thoughts  might  weep  loud.  Arise,  my 
glory !  Arise,  psalter  and  cymbals,  that  I  may  imfold  my 
meaning  in  proverbs,  and  that  I  may  announce  my  glory  in 
words.  .  .  .  Knowing,  O  lord,  your  good  disposition, 
I  take  refuge  in  your  customary  kindness,  for  the  Holy  Writ 
says:  Ask  and  you  shall  receive.  David  has  said:  There  is 
no  speech  nor  language,  where  their  voice  is  not  heard. 
Neither  will  we  be  silent,  but  will  speak  out  to  our  master, 
the  most  gracious  Yarosldv  Vsevolodovich. 

Prince  my  lord !  Remember  me  in  your  reign,  for  I,  your 
slave,  and  son  of  your  slave,  see  all  men  warmed  by  your 
mercy  as  by  the  sun;  only  I  alone  walk  in  darkness,  de- 
prived of  the  light  from  your  eyes,  like  the  grass  growing 
behind  a  wall,  upon  which  neither  the  sun  shineth  nor  the 
rain  falleth.  So,  my  lord,  incline  your  ears  to  the  words  of 
my  lips,  and  deliver  me  from  all  my  sorrow. 

Prince  my  lord!  All  get  their  fill  from  the  abundance  of 
your  house ;  but  I  alone  thirst  for  your  mercy,  like  a  stag 
for  a  spring  of  water.  I  was  like  a  tree  that  stands  in  the 
road  and  that  all  passers-by  strike ; — even  thus  I  am  insulted 
by  all,  for  I  am  not  protected  by  the  terror  of  your  wrath,  as 
by  a  firm  palisade. 

Prince  my  lord!  The  rich  man  is  known  everywhere, 
even  in  a  strange  city,  while  the  poor  man  walketh  unseen 
in  his  own.  The  rich  man  speaketh  and  all  are  silent,  and 
his  words  are  elated  to  the  clouds;  but  let  the  poor  man 
speak  out,  and  all  will  call  out  to  him,  for  the  discourse  of 
those  is  honoured  whose  garments  are  bright.  But  you,  my 
lord,  look  not  at  my  outer  garb,  but  consider  my  inner 
thoughts,  for  my  apparel  is  scanty,  and  I  am  young  in  years, 
but  old  in  mind,  and  I  have  soared  in  thought  like  an  eagle 
in  the  air. 


I02  The  Oldest  Period 

Prince  ray  lord !  Let  me  behold  your  fair  face  and  form. 
Your  lips  drop  honey;  your  utterances  are  like  paradise 
with  its  fruit ;  your  hands  are  filled  with  gold  of  Tharsos ; 
your  cheeks  are  a  vessel  of  spices;  your  throat  is  like  a  lily 
dropping  myrrh — your  mercy;  your  look  is  as  the  choice 
Lebanon;  your  eyes  are  like  a  well  of  living  water;  your 
belly  is  like  an  heap  of  wheat,  feeding  many;  your  head 
riseth  above  my  head.     .     .     . 

Prince  my  lord!  Look  not  at  me  as  a  wolf  at  a  lamb;  but 
look  at  me  as  a  mother  at  her  babe.  Look,  O  lord,  at  the 
birds  of  the  air,  that  neither  plough,  nor  sow,  nor  gather  into 
granaries,  but  rely  upon  God's  kindness.  Let  not  your  hand 
be  closed  against  giving  alms  to  the  needy.  For  it  is  writ- 
ten: Give  to  him  who  asketh  of  you,  open  to  him  who 
knocketh,  that  you  may  not  forfeit  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 
For  it  is  also  written :  Confide  your  sorrow  to  the  Lord,  and 
He  will  nurture  you  until  eternity.  Deprive  not  the  needy 
wise  man  of  his  bread,  but  extol  him  to  the  clouds,  like  pure 
gold  in  a  dirty  vessel ;  but  the  silly  rich  man  is  like  a  silken 
pillow-case  stuffed  full  of  straw. 

Prince  my  lord!  Though  I  am  not  a  valiant  man  in  war, 
yet  am  I  strong  in  words,  and  I  cull  the  sweetness  of  words, 
mixing  them,  as  sea-water  in  a  leather  bottle,  and  wind 
them  and  adorn  them  with  cunning  parables,  and  I  am  glib 
of  speech  and  .  .  .  my  lips  are  pleasing,  like  a  stream 
of  the  river  rapids. 

Prince  my  lord!  As  an  oak  is  strong  by  the  multitude  of 
its  roots,  thus  is  our  city  under  your  domination.  The 
helmsman  is  the  head  of  the  vessel,  and  you,  Prince,  are  the 
head  of  your  people.  I  have  seen  an  army  without  a  prince; 
— you  might  say:  a  big  beast  without  its  head.  Men  are  the 
heads  of  women,  and  princes — of  men,  and  God — of  the 
prince.  As  the  pillow-case  that  is  adorned  with  silk  makes 
a  pleasant  appearance,  even  thus  you,  our  Prince,  are  glori- 
fied and  honoured  in  many  lands  through  the  multitude  of 
your  men.  As  the  net  does  not  hold  the  water,  but  keeps  a 
multitude  of  fish,  even  thus  you,  our  Prince,  keep  not  the 
wealth,  but  distribute  it  among  the  strong,  making  them 


Daniel  the  Prisoner  103 

brave,  for  you  will  gain  gold  and  cities  through  them. 
Hezekiah,  the  King  of  the  Jews,  boasted  before  the  messen- 
gers of  the  King  of  Babylon,  when  he  showed  them  the  treas- 
ure of  his  gold.  But  they  answered:  "  Our  kings  are  richer 
than  you,  not  with  the  treasure  of  gold,  but  with  a  multitude 
of  brave  and  wise  men."  (For  men  will  gain  gold,  but  gold 
will  not  gain  men.)  Water  is  the  mother  of  the  fish,  and 
you  are  Prince  of  your  people.  Spring  adorns  the  earth 
with  flowers,  and  you,  Prince,  adorn  us  with  your  mercy. 
The  sun  alone  warms  with  its  rays,  and  you,  Prince,  adorn 
and  revive  with  your  mercy. 

Prince  my  lord!  I  have  been  in  great  distress,  and  have 
suffered  under  the  yoke  of  work :  I  have  experienced  all  that 
is  evil.  Rather  would  I  see  my  foot  in  bast  shoes  in  your 
house  than  in  crimson  boots  in  the  court  of  a  boydr.  Rather 
would  I  serve  you  in  homespun  than  in  purple  in  the  court 
of  a  boy&r.  Improper  is  a  golden  ring  in  the  nose  of  a  swine, 
and  a  good  garment  upon  a  peasant.  Even  if  a  kettle  were 
to  have  golden  rings  in  its  handles,  its  bottom  would  not 
escape  blackness  and  burning.  Even  thus  a  peasant:  let 
him  be  ever  so  haughty  and  insolent,  he  will  not  escape  his 
blemish,  the  name  of  a  peasant.  Rather  would  I  drink  water 
in  your  house,  than  mead  in  the  court  of  a  boyar;  rather 
would  I  receive  a  roasted  sparrow  from  your  hand  than  a 
shoulder  of  mutton  from  the  hand  of  a  bad  master. 

Often  has  my  bread,  earned  by  work,  tasted  as  wormwood 
in  my  mouth,  and  my  drink  I  have  mingled  with  tears. 
Serving  a  good  master,  you  gain  your  liberty  in  the  end,  but 
serving  a  bad  master,  you  only  gain  an  increase  of  your 
labour.  Solomon  has  said :  Better  is  one  wise  man  than  ten 
brave  men  without  understanding;  better  is  one  clever  man 
than  ten  rulers  of  cities.  Daniel  has  said :  A  brave  man,  O 
Prince,  you  will  easily  acquire,  but  a  wise  man  is  dear;  for 
the  counsel  of  the  wise  is  good,  and  their  armies  are  strong, 
and  their  cities  safe.  The  armies  of  others  are  strong, 
but  without  understanding,  and  they  suffer  defeat.  Many, 
arming  themselves  against  large  cities,  start  out  from  smaller 
towns;  as  Svyatosldv,  the  son  of  Olga,  said  on  his  way  to 


I04  The  Oldest  Period 

Constantinople  to  his  small  druzhina:  "  We  do  not  know,  O 
brothers,  whether  the  city  is  to  be  taken  by  us,  or  whether 
we  are  to  perish  from  the  city :  for  if  God  is  with  us,  who  is 
against  us  ? "     .     .     . 

Not  the  sea  draweth  the  ships,  but  the  winds;  even  thus 
you,  O  Prince,  fall  not  yourself  into  grieving,  but  counsel- 
lors lead  you  into  it.  Not  the  fire  causeth  the  iron  to  be 
heated,  but  the  blowing  of  the  bellows.  A  wise  man  is  not 
generally  valiant  in  war,  but  strong  in  counsel;  so  it  is  good 
to  gather  wise  men  around  you.  It  is  good  to  pasture  horses 
in  a  fertile  field  (and  to  fight  for  a  good  prince).  Often 
armies  perish  through  lack  of  order.  If  the  armies  are 
strongly  placed,  they  will,  though  they  be  defeated,  make  a 
good  running  fight;  thus  Svyatop61k,  who  was  guilty  of  kill- 
ing his  brothers,  was  so  fortified,  that  Yarosldv  barely  over- 
came him  at  night.  Similarly  Bonydk  the  Scurfy  through 
cunning  routed  the  Hungarians  at  Gdlich:  when  the  latter 
fortified  themselves  behind  ramparts,  the  first  scattered  like 
hunting  men  over  the  land;  thus  they  routed  the  Hungar- 
ians, and  badly  defeated  them. 

Prince  my  lord !  I  have  not  been  brought  up  in  Athens, 
nor  have  I  studied  with  the  philosophers,  but  I  have  pored 
over  books,  like  a  bee  over  all  kinds  of  flowers:  from  them 
have  I  gathered  sweetness  of  speech,  mingling  wisdom  with 
it,  as  sea-water  in  a  leather  bottle.     .     .     . 

Serapidn,  Bishop  of  Vladimir.    (XIII.  century.) 

Serapi6n  had  been  abbot  of  the  monastery  of  the  Grottoes  in  Ki«*v, 
and  in  1274  he  was  made  bishop  of  Vladimir  and  Sfizdal.  He  died  in 
1275.  We  have  five  of  his  sermons,  which  are  distinguished  for  a 
certain  simple,  stem  eloquence.  The  thirteenth  century  produced 
very  few  writers,  and  Serapi6n's  sermons  have  an  additional  interest 
because  they  contain  references  to  the  Tartar  invasion. 

A  SERMON  ON  OMENS 

The  Lord's  blessing  be  with  you! 

You  have  heard,  brothers,  what  the  Lord  Himself  has  said 
in  the  gospel:  in  the  last  years  there  will  be  signs  in  the 


Serapi6n  105 

sun,  in  the  moon,  and  in  the  stars,  and  earthquakes  in  many 
places,  and  famine.  What  had  been  foretold  by  the  IvOrd 
then,  is  now  fulfilled  in  our  days.'  We  have  seen  many 
times  the  sun  perished,  the  moon  darkened,  and  the  stars 
disturbed,  and  lately  we  have  seen  with  our  own  eyes  the 
quaking  of  the  earth.  The  earth,  firm  and  immovable  from 
the  beginning  by  the  order  of  God,  is  in  motion  to-day, 
trembling  on  account  of  our  sins,  being  unable  to  bear  our 
lawlessness.  We  did  not  obey  the  gospel,  did  not  obey  the 
apostles,  nor  the  prophets,  nor  the  great  luminaries,  I  mean 
Basil  and  Gregory  the  theologues,  John  Chrysostom,  and 
the  other  holy  fathers,  by  whom  the  faith  was  confirmed, 
the  heretics  repelled,  and  God  made  known  to  all  the  na- 
tions. They  haye  taught  us  without  interruption,  but  we 
are  living  in  lawlessness. 

It  is  for  this  that  God  is  punishing  us  with  signs  and 
earthquakes.  He  does  not  speak  with  His  lips,  but  chastises 
with  deeds.  God  has  punished  us  with  everything,  but  has 
not  dispelled  our  evil  habits:  now  He  shakes  the  earth  and 
makes  it  tremble:  He  wants  to  shake  oflf  our  lawlessness  and 
sins  from  the  earth  like  leaves  from  a  tree.  If  any  should 
say  that  there  have  been  earthquakes  before,  I  shall  not 
deny  it.  But  what  happened  to  us  afterwards  ?  Did  we  not 
have  famine,  and  plague,  and  many  wars  ?  But  we  did  not 
repent,  until  finally  there  came  upon  us  a  ruthless  nation,  at 
the  instigation  of  God,  and  laid  waste  our  land,  and  took 
into  captivity  whole  cities,  destroyed  our  holy  churches,  slew 
our  fathers  and  brothers,  violated  our  mothers  and  sisters. 
Now,  my  brothers,  having  experienced  that,  let  us  pray  to 
our  lyord,  and  make  confession,  lest  we  incur  a  greater  wrath 
of  the  Lord,  and  bring  down  upon  us  a  greater  punishment 
than  the  first. 

Much  is  still  waiting  for  our  repentance  and  for  our  con- 
version. If  we  turn  away  from  corrupt  and  ruthless  judg- 
ments, if  we  do  away  with  bloody  usury  and  all  rapacity, 
thefts,  robbery,  blasphemy,  lies,  calumny,  oaths,  and  denun- 

'  These  disturbances  of  nature  are  mentioned  in  the  Chronicle  under 
the  year  1230. 


io6  The  Oldest  Period 

ciations,  and  other  satanic  deeds, — if  we  do  away  with  all 
that,  I  know  well  that  good  things  will  come  to  us  in  this 
life  and  in  the  future  life.  For  He  Himself  hath  said :  Turn 
to  me,  and  I  will  turn  to  you.  Keep  away  from  every- 
thing, and  I  will  withhold  your  punishment.  When  will 
we,  at  last,  turn  away  from  our  sins  ?  L/Ct  us  spare  ourselves 
and  our  children !  At  what  time  have  we  seen  so  many  sud- 
den deaths  ?  Many  were  taken  away  before  they  could  care 
for  their  houses;  many  lay  down  well  in  the  evening  and 
never  arose  again.  Have  fear,  I  pray  you,  of  this  sudden 
parting!  If  we  wander  in  the  will  of  the  Lord,  God  will 
comfort  us  with  many  a  comfort,  will  cherish  us  as  His  sons, 
will  take  away  from  us  earthly  sorrow,  will  g^ve  us  a  peace- 
ful exit  into  the  future  life,  where  we  shall  enjoy  gladness,  and 
endless  happiness  with  those  who  do  the  will  of  the  Lord. 

I  have  told  you  much,  my  brothers  and  children,  but  I 
see  our  punishments  will  not  be  diminished,  nor  changed. 
Many  take  no  heed,  as  if  they  weened  themselves  to  be  im- 
mortal. I  am  afraid  that  the  word  of  God  will  come  to  pass 
with  them:  If  I  had  not  spoken  to  them,  they  would  not 
have  sinned;  but  now  they  have  no  excuse  for  their  sin. 
And  I  repeat  to  you,  if  we  do  not  change,  we  shall  have  no 
excuse  before  the  Lord.  I,  your  sinful  pastor,  have  done 
the  command  of  God  in  transmitting  His  word  to  you. 

The  Zad6nshchina.    (XIV.  century.) 

The  Zadbnshchina,  i.  e..  The  Exploits  beyond  the  Don,  has  come 
down  in  two  versions,  and  is  an  interesting  poetical  account  of  the 
battle  at  Kulik6vo  (1380).  The  Word  of  /gar's  Armament  had 
taken  a  strong  hold  on  the  author,  who  seems  to  have  been  a  certain 
Sof6niya  of  Ryazdn.  Not  only  are  there  many  parallels  in  the  two 
poems,  but  whole  passages  are  bodily  taken  from  the  older  text,  with 
corruption  of  some  phrases,  the  meaning  of  which  was  not  clear  to 
the  anther  of  the  Zadbnshchina. 

THE  ZADONSHCHINA 

Let  us  go,  O  brothers,  into  the  midnight  country,  the  lot 
of  Japheth,'  the  son  of  Noah,  from  whom  has  risen  the  most 

'The  Byzantine  chronographers  generally  begin  their  accounts 
with  Noah  ;  so  does  Nestor,  who  follows  those  sources. 


The  Zad6nshchina  107 

glorious  Russia;  let  us  there  ascend  the  Kiev  mountains, 
and  look  by  the  smooth  Dnieper  over  the  whole  Russian 
land,  and  hence  to  the  Eastern  land,  the  lot  of  Shem,  the 
son  of  Noah,  from  whom  were  born  the  Chinese,'  the  pagan 
Tartars,  the  Mussulmans.  They  had  defeated  the  race  of 
Japheth  on  the  river  Kayala."  And  ever  since,  the  Russian 
land  has  been  unhappy,  and  from  the  battle  of  the  Kalka ' 
up  to  Mamdy's  defeat  it  has  been  covered  with  grief  and 
sorrow,  weeping  and  lamenting  its  children.  The  Prince 
and  the  boyars,  and  all  the  brave  men  who  had  left  all  their 
homes,  and  wealth,  and  wives,  children,  and  cattle,  having 
received  honour  and  glory  of  this  world,  have  laid  down 
their  heads  for  the  Russian  land  and  the  Christian  faith. 

I^t  us  come  together,  brothers  and  friends,  sons  of  Russia ! 
Let  us  join  word  to  word  !  Let  us  make  the  Russian  land 
merry,  and  cast  sorrow  on  the  eastern  regions  that  are  to  the 
lot  of  Shem !  Let  us  sing  about  the  victory  over  the  heathen 
Mamay,  and  an  eulogy  to  the  Grand  Prince  Dmitri  Ivanovich 
and  his  brother,^  Prince  Vladimir  Andr^evich!  .  .  .  We 
shall  sing  as  things  have  happened,  and  will  not  race  in 
thought,  but  will  mention  the  times  of  the  first  years;  we 
will  praise  the  wise  Boyan,*  the  famous  musician  in  Kiev 
town.  That  wise  Boyan  put  his  golden  fingers  on  the  living 
strings,  sang  the  glory  of  the  Russian  princes,  to  the  first 
Prince  Rurik,  Igor  Rurikovich  and  Svyatosldv,  Yarop61k, 
Vladimir  Svyatosldvich,  Yarosldv  Vladimirovich,  praising 
them  with  songs  and  melodious  musical  words. —  But  I 
shall  mention  Sof6niya  of  Ryazdn,  and  shall  praise  in  songs 
and  musical  words  the  Prince  Dmitri  Ivanovich  and  his 
brother.  Prince  Vladimir  Andreevich,  for  their  bravery  and 

'  The  original  has  a  word  derived  from  Khin,  which  seems  to  be 
identical  with  "  China,"  and  is  used  in  general  for  Asiatics. 

'See  pp.  75  and  89. 

'The  battle  with  the  Tartars  at  the  river  Kdlka  took  place  in  1224. 

*  Vladimir  Andreevich  was  the  cousin  of  Dmitri  Donsk6y,  the  son 
oflvdnll. 

*In  the  text  the  word  is  boyarin,  i.  e.^  "boydr,"  evidently  a  cor- 
ruption of  Boydn,  which  is  one  of  the  proofs  of  the  Zad6nshchina 
being  a  later  imitation  of  the  Word  of  Igor's  Armament. 


io8  The  Oldest  Period 

zeal  was  for  the  Russian  land  and  the  Christian  faith.  For 
this,  Grand  Prince  Dmitri  Ivdnovich  and  his  brother,  Prince 
Vladimir  Andr^evich,  sharpened  their  hearts  in  bravery, 
arose  in  their  strength,  and  remembered  their  ancestor, 
Prince  Vladimir  of  Kiev,  the  tsar  of  Russia. 

O  lark,  joy  of  beautiful  days!  Fly  to  the  blue  clouds,  look 
towards  the  strong  city  of  Moscow,  sing  the  glory  of  Grand 
Prince  Dmitri  Andr6evich!  They  have  risen  like  falcons 
from  the  Russian  land  against  the  fields  of  the  P6lovtses. 
The  horses  neigh  at  the  Moskvd;  the  drums  are  beaten  at 
the  Kol6mna;  the  trumpets  blare  at  Serpukh6v;  the  glory 
resounds  over  the  whole  Russian  land.  Wonderfully  the 
standards  stand  at  the  great  Don;  the  embroidered  flags 
flutter  in  the  wind;  the  gilded  coats  of  mail  glisten.  The 
bells  are  tolled  in  the  vydche '  of  N6v'gorod  the  Great.  The 
men  of  Novgorod  stand  in  front  of  St.  Sophia,  and  speak  as 
follows:  "We  shall  not  get  in  time  to  the  aid  of  Grand 
Prince  Dmitri  Ivdnovich."  Then  they  flew  together  like 
eagles  from  the  whole  midnight  country.  They  were  not 
eagles  that  flew  together,  but  posddniks '  that  went  out  with 
7000  men  from  N6vgorod  the  Great  to  Grand  Prince  Dmitri 
Ivdnovich  and  to  his  brother  Vladimir  Andr6evich. 

All  the  Russian  princes  came  to  the  aid  of  Grand  Prince 
Dmitri  Ivdnovich,  and  they  spoke  as  follows:  "  Lord  Grand 
Prince!  Already  do  the  pagan  Tartars  encroach  upon  our 
fields,  and  take  away  our  patrimony.  They  stand  between 
the  Don  and  Dnieper,  on  the  river  Mechd.'  But  we,  lord, 
will  go  beyond  the  swift  river  Don,  will  gain  glory  in  all  the 
lands,  will  be  an  object  of  conversation  for  the  old  men,  and 
a  memory  for  the  young. ' ' 

Thus  spoke  Grand  Prince  Dmitri  Ivdnovich  to  his 
brothers,  the  Russian-princes:  "  My  dear  brothers,  Russian 
princes!  We  are  of  the  same  descent,  from  Grand  Prince 
Ivdn  Danilovich.*      So  far  we  brothers  have  not  been  in- 

'  Popular  assembly  of  N6vgorod. 

*  Bnrgomasters  or  governors  of  N6vgorod. 
•Tributary  of  the  Don. 

*  Ivdn  Kalitd,  1328-1340. 


The  Zadonshchina  109 

suited  either  by  falcon,  or  vulture,  or  white  gerfalcon,  or 
this  dog,  pagan  Mamay." 

Nightingale!  If  you  could  only  sing  the  glory  of  these 
two  brothers,  Olgerd's  sons,*  Andr6y  of  Polotsk  and  Dmitri 
of  Bryansk,  for  they  were  born  in  Lithuania  on  a  shield  of 
the  vanguard,  swaddled  under  trumpets,  raised  under  hel- 
mets, fed  at  the  point  of  the  spear,  and  given  drink  with  the 
sharp  sword.  Spoke  Audrey  to  his  brother  Dmitri:  "We 
are  two  brothers,  sons  of  Olgerd,  grandchildren  of  Gedemin, 
great-grandchildren  of  Skoldimer.  Let  us  mount  our 
swift  steeds,  let  us  drink,  O  brother,  with  our  helmets 
the  water  from  the  swift  Don,  let  us  try  our  tempered 
swords." 

And  Dmitri  spoke  to  him:  "  Brother  Andr6y!  We  will 
not  spare  our  lives  for  the  Russian  land  and  Christian  faith, 
and  to  avenge  the  insult  to  Grand  Prince  Dmitri  Ivanovich. 
Already,  O  brother,  there  is  a  din  and  thunder  in  the  famous 
city  of  Moscow.  But,  brother,  it  is  not  a  din  or  thunder:  it 
is  the  noise  made  by  the  mighty  army  of  Grand  Prince 
Dmitri  Ivanovich  and  his  brother  Prince  Vladimir  Andr6- 
evich;  the  brave  fellows  thunder  with  their  gilded  helmets 
and  crimson  shields.  Saddle,  brother  Audrey,  your  good 
swift  steeds,  for  mine  are  ready,  having  been  saddled  before. 
We  will  ride  out,  brother,  into  the  clear  field,  and  will  re- 
view our  armies,  as  many  brave  men  of  Lithuania  as  there 
are  with  us,  but  there  are  with  us  of  the  brave  men  of  Lithu- 
ania seven  thousand  mailed  soldiers. ' ' 

Already  there  have  arisen  strong  winds  from  the  sea;  they 
have  wafted  a  great  cloud  to  the  mouth  of  the  Dnieper, 
against  the  Russian  land;  bloody  clouds  have  issued  from  it, 
and  blue  lightnings  flash  through  them.  There  will  be  a 
mighty  din  and  thunder  between  the  Don  and  the  Dnieper, 
and  bodies  of  men  will  fall  on  the  field  of  Kulik6vo,  and 
blood  will  flow  on  the  river  Nepryddva,  for  the  carts  have 
already  creaked  between  the  Don  and  Dnieper,  and  the 
pagan  Tartars  march  against  the  Russian  land.  Grey  wolves 

■  These  Lithuanian  Princes  had  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of 
Moscow. 


#  . 


no  The  Oldest  Period 

howl:  they  wish  at  the  river  Mechd  to  invade  the  Russian 
land.  Those  are  not  grey  wolves:  the  infidel  Tartars  have 
come ;  they  wish  to  cross  the  country  in  war,  and  to  conquer 
the  Russian  land.  The  geese  have  cackled  and  the  swans 
have  flapped  their  wings, —  pagan  Mamdy  has  come  against 
the  Russian  land  and  has  brought  his  generals.     .     .     . 

What  is  that  din  and  thunder  so  early  before  daybreak  ? 
Prince  Vladimir  Andr^evich  has  reviewed  his  army  and  is 
leading  it  to  the  great  Don.  And  he  says  to  his  brother, 
Grand  Prince  Dmitri  Ivanovich:  "Slacken  not,  brother, 
against  the  pagan  Tartars,  for  the  infidels  are  already  in  the 
Russian  land,  and  are  taking  away  our  patrimony!  "    .    .    . 

The  falcons  and  gerfalcons  have  swiftly  flown  across  the 
Don,  and  have  swooped  down  on  the  many  flocks  of  swans: 
the  Russian  princes  have  attacked  the  Tartar  might,  and 
they  strike  with  their  steel  lances  against  the  Tartar  armour; 
the  tempered  swords  thunder  against  the  Tartar  helmets  on 
the  field  of  Kulik6vo,  on  the  river  Nepryddva.  Black  is  the 
earth  under  the  hoofs,  but  they  had  sowed  the  field  with 
Tartar  bones,  and  the  earth  was  watered  with  their  blood,, 
and  mighty  armies  passed  by  and  trampled  down  hills  and 
fields,  and  the  rivers,  springs  and  lakes  were  turbid.  They 
uttered  mighty  cries  in  the  Russian  land  .  .  .  and  they 
vanquished  the  Tartar  horde  on  the  field  of  Kulikovo,  on 
the  river  Nepryddva. 

On  that  field  mighty  clouds  encountered,  and  in  them 
lightnings  frequently  flashed,  and  terrible  thunders  clapped : 
it  is  the  Russian  brave  warriors  who  were  engaging  the 
pagan  Tartars  for  the  great  insult,  and  their  mighty  gilded 
armour  glistened,  and  the  Russian  princes  thundered  with 
their  tempered  swords  against  the  Tartar  helmets.     .     .     . 

At  that  time  neither  soldiers  nor  shepherds  called  in  the 
field  near  the  Don,  in  the  land  of  Ryazdn,  but  only  ravens 
croaked  for  the  sake  of  the  bodies  of  the  dead,  so  that  it  was 
a  terror  and  a  pity  to  hear:  for  the  grass  was  watered  with 
blood,  and  the  trees  were  bent  to  the  ground  with  sorrow, 
and  the  birds  sang  pitiful  songs.  All  princesses  and  wives  of 
the  boydrs  and  generals  wept  for  the  slain.    Fed6sya,  the  wife 


Afanasi  Nikitin  iii 

of  Miklila  Vasilevich, '  and  Mary,  the  wife  of  Dmitri,  wept 
early  in  the  morning  at  Moscow,  standing  on  the  city  wall, 
and  spoke  as  follows:  "  Don,  Don,  you  are  a  swift  river,  and 
have  cut  through  stone  walls,  and  flow  through  the  land  of 
the  Polovtses!  Bring  back  my  beloved  one  to  me!  "  .  .  . 
All  over  the  Russian  land  there  spread  joy  and  merriment: 
the  Russian  glory  was  borne  through  the  land,  but  shame 
and  destruction  came  on  the  pagan  Tartars,  evil  Mussul- 
mans. .  .  .  The  Grand  Prince  by  his  own  bravery  and 
with  his  druzhina  vanquished  pagan  Mamdy  for  the  sake  of 
the  Russian  land  and  the  Christian  faith.  The  pagans  de- 
posited their  own  arms  under  the  Russian  swords,  and  the 
trumpets  were  not  sounded,  their  voices  were  silent.  Mamdy 
galloped  away  from  his  druzhina,  howled  like  a  grey  wolf, 
and  ran  away  to  the  city  of  Khafest.'    .     .     . 

Afandsi  Nikitin.     (XV.  century.) 

Nikitin  set  out  about  1468  for  India,  whence  he  returned  in  1474. 
He  wrote  out  an  account  of  his  many  adventures,  which  is  interest- 
ing for  its  sober  though  rather  one-sided  narration.  It  stands  alone 
in  the  old  Russian  literature  as  the  writing  of  a  layman  bent  on  a 
commercial  enterprise.  His  Travel  to  India  has  been  translated  by 
Count  Wielhorsky  for  the  Hakluyt  Society. 

TRAVEL  TO  INDIA 

I,  poor  sinner,  brought  a  stallion  to  the  land  of  India; 
with  God's  help  I  reached  Junir  all  well,  but  it  cost  me  a 
hundred  roubles. 

The  winter  began  from  Trinity  day,  and  we  wintered  at 
Junir  and  lived  there  two  months;  but  day  and  night  for 
four  months  there  is  but  rain  and  dirt.  At  this  time  of  the 
year  the  people  till  the  ground,  sow  wheat,  tuturegan  (?), 
peas,  and  all  sorts  of  vegetables.  Wine  is  kept  in  large 
skins  (?)  of  Indian  goats.     .     .     . 

Horses  are  fed  on  peas;  also  on  kichiris,  boiled  with  sugar 
and  oil;  early  in  the  morning  they  get  shishenivo.     Horses 

'  A  thousand-man  of  the  Russian  army. 

•  Probably  a  mistake  for  KafiTa  in  the  Crimea. 


112  The  Oldest  Period 

are  not  born  in  that  country,  but  oxen  and  buffaloes;  and 
these  are  used  for  riding,  conveying  goods,  and  every  other 
purpose. 

Junir  stands'on  a  stony  island ;  no  human  hand  built  it — 
God  made  the  town.  A  narrow  road,  which  it  takes  a  day 
to  ascend,  admitting  of  only  one  man  at  a  time,  leads  up  a 
hill  to  it. 

In  the  winter,  the  people  put  on  the  fata,  and  wear  it 
around  the  waist,  on  the  shoulders,  and  on  their  head ;  but 
the  princes  and  nobles  put  trowsers  on,  a  shirt  and  a  caftan, 
wearing  a  fata  on  the  shoulders,  another  as  a  belt  round  the 
waist,  and  a  third  round  their  head. 

O  God,  true  God,  merciful  God,  gracious  God ! 

At  Junir  the  Khan  took  away  my  horse,  and  having  heard 
that  I  was  no  Mahommedan,  but  a  Russian,  he  said:  "  I 
will  give  thee  the  horse  and  a  thousand  pieces  of  gold,  if  thou 
wilt  embrace  our  faith,  the  Mahommedan  faith;  and  if  thou 
wilt  not  embrace  our  Mahommedan  faith,  I  shall  keep  the 
horse  and  take  a  thousand  pieces  of  gold  upon  thy  head." 
He  gave  me  four  days  to  consider,  and  all  this  occurred  dur- 
ing the  fast  of  the  Assumption  of  our  Lady,  on  the  eve  of 
our  Saviour's  day  (i8th  of  August). 

And  the  Lord  took  pity  upon  me  because  of  His  holy  festi- 
val, and  did  not  withdraw  His  mercy  from  me.  His  simple 
servant,  and  allowed  me  not  to  perish  at  Junir  among  the  in- 
fidels. On  the  eve  of  our  Saviour's  day  there  came  a  man 
from  Khorassan,  Khozaiocha  Mahmet,  and  I  implored  him 
to  pity  me.  He  repaired  to  the  Khan  into  the  town,  and 
praying  him  delivered  me  from  being  converted,  and  took 
from  him  my  horse.  Such  was  the  Lord's  wonderful  mercy 
on  the  Saviour's  day. 

Now,  Christian  brethren  of  Russia,  whoever  of  you  wishes 
to  go  to  the  Indian  country  may  leave  his  faith  in  Russia, 
confess  Mahomet,  and  then  proceed  to  the  land  of  Hindos- 
tan.  Those  Mussulman  dogs  have  lied  to  me,  saying  I  should 
find  plenty  of  our  goods;  but  there  is  nothing  for  our  coun- 
try. All  goods  for  the  land  of  Mussulmans,  as  pepper  and 
colours,  and  these  are  cheap. 


Afan^i  Nikitin  113 

The  rulers  and  the  nobles  in  the  land  of  India  are  all 
Khorassanians.  The  Hindoos  walk  all  on  foot  and  walk 
fast.  They  are  all  naked  and  bare-footed,  and  carry  a  shield 
in  one  hand  and  a  sword  in  the  other.  Some  of  the  servants 
are  armed  with  straight  bows  and  arrows. 

Elephants  are  greatly  used  in  battle.  The  men  on  foot 
are  sent  first,  the  Khorassanians  being  mounted  in  full  ar- 
mour, man  as  well  as  horse.  lyarge  scythes  are  attached  to 
the  trunks  and  tusks  of  the  elephants,  and  the  animals  are 
clad  in  ornamental  plates  of  steel.  They  carry  a  citadel,  and 
in  the  citadel  twelve  men  in  armour  with  guns  and  arrows. 

There  is  a  place  Shikhbaludin  Peratyr,  a  bazaar  Aladi- 
nand,  and  a  fair  once  a  year,  where  people  from  all  parts  of 
India  assemble  and  trade  for  ten  days.  As  many  as  20,000 
horses  are  brought  there  for  sale  from  Beder,  which  is  20 
kors  distant,  and  besides  every  description  of  goods;  and 
that  fair  is  the  best  throughout  the  land  of  Hindostan. 
Everything  is  sold  or  bought  in  memory  of  Shikbaladin, 
whose  f^te  falls  on  the  Russian  festival  of  the  Protection  of 
the  Holy  Virgin  (ist  October). 

In  that  Aland  (Aladinand  ?)  there  is  a  bird,  gukuk,  that 
flies  at  night  and  cries  gukuk,  and  any  roof  it  lights  upon, 
there  the  man  will  die ;  and  whoever  attempts  to  kill  it  will 
see  fire  flashing  from  its  beak.  Wild  cats  rove  at  night  and 
catch  fowls;  they  live  in  the  hills  and  among  stones.  As  to 
monkeys,  they  live  in  the  woods  and  have  their  monkey 
knyaz,  who  is  attended  by  a  host  of  armed  followers.  When 
any  of  them  is  caught  they  complain  to  their  knyaz,  and  an 
army  is  sent  after  the  missing;  and  when  they  come  to  a 
town  they  pull  down  the  houses  and  beat  the  people;  and 
their  armies,  it  is  said,  are  many.  They  speak  their  own 
tongues  and  bring  forth  a  great  many  children;  and  when  a 
child  is  unlike  its  father  or  its  mother,  it  is  thrown  out  on 
the  highroad.  Thus  they  are  often  caught  by  the  Hindoos, 
who  teach  them  every  sort  of  handicraft,  or  sell  them  at 
night,  that  they  might  not  find  their  way  home,  or  teach 
them  dancing. — From  India  in  the  Fifteenth  Century,  in  the 
Hakluyt  Society  Publications,  London,  1857. 

VOL.   I.— 8. 


114  The  Oldest  Period 

Apocryphal  Legends  about  King  Solomon. 
(XV.  century.) 

Among  the  many  apocryphal  stories  of  the  Old  Testament  that 
were  current  in  Russia  the  largest  number  centre  about  King  Solo- 
mon. They  are  mostly  derived  from  Byzantine  sources  which,  in 
their  turn,  are  often  based  on  Jewish  apocryphal  accounts  ;  thus  the 
Story  of  Kitovr&s  (evidently  transformed  from  Centaurus)  is  also 
given  in  the  Talmud.  Kitovrds  is  mentioned  in  Russian  literature 
in  the  fourteenth  century,  but  the  following  passage  is  from  a  manu- 
script of  the  fifteenth. 

THE  STORY  OF  KITOVRIS 

Then  came  Solomon's  turn  to  learn  about  Kitovrds.  He 
found  out  that  his  habitation  was  in  a  distant  wilderness. 
Solomon,  in  his  wisdom,  prepared  a  steel  rope  and  a  steel 
hoop,  and  on  this  he  wrote  an  incantation  in  the  name  of 
God.  And  he  sent  his  best  boydr  with  his  men,  and  ordered 
them  to  take  with  them  wine  and  mead,  and  the  fleece  of 
sheep.  And  they  came  to  the  appointed  place,  and  behold, 
there  were  three  wells,  but  he  was  not  there.  By  the  in- 
struction of  Solomon,  they  emptied  the  three  wells,  and 
closed  the  springs  with  the  fleeces  of  the  sheep,  and  filled  two 
of  the  wells  with  wine,  and  the  third  one  with  mead,  but 
they  themselves  hid  themselves  nearby,  for  they  knew  that 
he  would  come  to  the  wells  to  drink  water.  And  he  came, 
for  he  was  very  thirsty,  and  he  lay  down  to  drink,  but  see- 
ing the  wine,  he  said:  "Nobody  becomes  wise  from  drinking 
wine. ' '  But  as  he  was  very  thirsty,  he  said  again :  ' '  You  are 
the  wine  that  gladdens  the  hearts  of  men, ' '  and  he  emptied  all 
three  wells,  and  lay  himself  down  to  sleep.  The  wine  heated 
him  up,  and  he  fell  into  a  deep  sleep.  Then  the  boydr  ap- 
proached him,  put  the  hoop  upon  his  neck,  and  tied  the  steel 
rope  to  him.  When  Kitovrds  awoke,  he  wanted  to  tear  him- 
self loose.  But  Solomon's  boydr  said  to  him:  "  The  name  of 
the  Lord  is  upon  you  with  a  prohibition  ";  and  he,  seeing 
the  name  of  the  Lord  upon  him,  went  meekly  along. 

His  habit  was  not  to  go  by  the  crooked  road,  but  by  the 
straight  road;  and  when  he  arrived  in  Jerusalem,  they 
levelled  the  road  for  him,  and  palaces  were  destroyed,  for  he 


Andrey  Mikhiylovich  K6rbski        115 

would  not  go  by  the  crooked  road.  They  came  to  the  house 
of  a  widow.  She  wept  loud,  and  she  begged  Kitovrds  with  the 
following  words:  "  I  am  a  poor  widow."  He  turned  around 
the  corner,  without  leaving  the  street,  and  he  broke  a  rib, 
and  said:  "  A  gentle  word  breaks  bones,  but  a  harsh  word 
rouses  anger."  As  he  was  led  through  the  market-place,  he 
heard  a  man  say:  "  Is  there  not  a  shoe  that  will  wear  seven 
years?"  and  Kitovrds  laughed  out  loud.  And  he  saw  an- 
other man  who  was  telling  fortunes,  and  he  laughed;  and 
he  saw  a  wedding  ceremony,  and  he  wept.     .     .     . 

Solomon  asked  Kitovras:  **  Wherefore  did  you  laugh  at 
the  man  that  asked  for  a  shoe  that  would  last  seven  years  ?  " 
And  Kitovrds  answered:  "  As  I  looked  at  him,  I  saw  that  he 
would  not  live  seven  days."  And  Solomon  said:  "  Where- 
fore did  you  laugh  at  the  fortune-teller?"  And  Kitovrds 
said:  "He  was  telling  people  hidden  things,  and  he  did  not 
himself  know  that  a  gold  treasure  was  right  under  him." 
And  the  King  said:  "  Go  and  .find  out!  "  They  went,  and 
they  found  that  it  was  so.  And  the  King  said:  "  Wherefore 
did  you  weep  when  you  saw  the  wedding  ?  ' '  And  he  said : 
"  I  felt  sorry  for  the  groom,  for  I  knew  he  would  not  live 
another  thirty  days."  And  the  King  had  the  matter  inves- 
tigated, and  he  found  that  it  was  so. 

Andr6y  Mikhdylovich  Kiirbski.     (1528-1583.) 

Klirbski  was  a  descendant  of  tlie  Yarosldv  princes  who,  as  he  was 
proud  of  mentioning,  derived  their  origin  from  the  great  Vladimir. 
At  twenty  years  of  age  he  took  part  in  an  expedition  against  Kazdn, 
and  a  few  years  later  he  distinguished  himself  at  the  storming  of  that 
Tartar  city.  Ivdn  the  Terrible  personally  decorated  him  for  his  valour 
in  these  and  other  expeditions  against  the  Tartars,  and  sent  him  with 
an  army  to  lyivonia  to  operate  against  the  Livonian  order.  In  1563 
Kdrbski  lost  an  important  battle  against  Poland.  Fearing  a  terrible 
vengeance  from  the  cruel  Tsar,  not  only  for  this  defeat,  but  also  for 
having  belonged  to  the  party  of  Sylvester  and  Addshev,  he  fled  to 
Poland,  where  he  was  received  with  open  arms  by  King  Sigismund. 
As  soon  as  he  had  reached  the  city  of  Volmar,  then  in  the  hands  of 
the  lyithuanians,  he  sent  his  faithful  servant  Vdska  Shibdnov  with  ati 
epistle  (here  given)  to  the  Tsar.  Ivdn,  upon  learning  from  Shibdnov 
that  the  letter  he  brought  him  was  from  the  traitor  Kiirbski,  struck 


ii6  The  Oldest  Period 

the  shaqj  point  of  his  staflF  through  the  messenger's  foot  and  ordered 
him  to  read  its  contents.  Shibdnov  did  so,  without  expressing  any 
pain,  though  he  was  bleeding  profusely. 

Kiirbski  had  belonged  in  Moscow  to  the  circle  of  the  enlightened 
churchman  Maksim  the  Greek,  who  believed  in  the  importance  of 
profane  studies.  Kdrbski  had  acquired  some  knowledge  of  Latin 
and  Greek,  which  he  perfected  in  his  exile.  In  Poland  he  devoted 
himself  to  literary  studies,  translating  Chrysostom  and  Eusebius, 
and  writing  a  series  of  four  epistles  to  Ivdn  the  Terrible,  and  others 
to  other  prominent  personages  in  Poland.  His  greatest  merit  con- 
sists in  his  having  written  a  History  of  Iv&n  the  Terrible,  which  is 
the  first  work  in  the  Russian  language  to  deserve  the  name  of  his- 
tory ;  for,  while  the  older  chronicles  gave  accounts  of  events,  Kiirbski 
subordinated  them  to  a  general  idea  which  runs  through  the  whole 
work. 

THE  STORMING  OF  KAzAn 

If  I  wrote  everything  that  took  place  around  the  city, 
there  would  be  a  whole  book  of  it.  But  it  is  worth  mention- 
ing that  they  used  charms  against  the  Christian  army  by 
which  they  caused  a  great  rainstorm.  From  the  beginning 
of  the  siege,  and  when  the  sun  just  began  to  rise,  there 
walked  out  upon  the  walls  of  the  city,  in  our  sight,  now 
their  old  men,  now  their  women,  and  they  began  to  howl 
Satanic  words,  all  the  time  waving  their  garments  to  our 
army  and  turning  around  in  an  improper  manner.  Then 
there  arose  a  wind,  clouds  were  formed,  however  clear  the 
day  may  have  begun,  and  there  came  such  a  downpour  of 
rain  that  all  the  dry  places  were  changed  into  bogs  and  filled 
with  water.  And  this  happened  only  over  our  army,  and  not 
elsewhere,  so  that  it  did  not  proceed  from  the  condition  of 
the  atmosphere. 

Seeing  this,  the  Tsar  was  advised  to  send  to  Moscow  for 
the  wood  from  the  Saviour's  cross,  which  is  worked  into  the 
rood  that  always  lies  near  the  crown  of  the  Tsar.  With 
God's  aid,  they  reached  Moscow  in  a  very  short  time,  trav- 
elling by  water  to  Nizhni  N6vgorod  in  swift  Vydtka  boats, 
making  the  journey  in  three  or  four  days,  and  from  N6vgo- 
rod  to  Moscow  by  fast  relays.  When  the  rood  was  brought, 
into  which  is  worked  the  wood  from  the  Saviotur's  cross  on 


Andrey  Mikhiylovich  Kiirbski        117 

which  our  lyord  Jesus  Christ  suffered  in  the  flesh  for  men,  the 
presbyters  made  a  procession  with  Christian  ceremonies 
and  blessed  the  water  according  to  church  use ;  through  the 
vivifying  power  of  the  cross,  the  pagan  charms  disappeared 
from  that  very  hour  completely.     .     .     . 

At  the  end  of  the  seventh  week  '  of  the  city's  investment, 
we  were  ordered  to  prepare  the  next  day  before  daybreak  for 
a  general  assault.  This  was  to  be  the  signal :  when  the  pow- 
der would  explode  and  would  demolish  the  wall,  which  had 
previously  been  undermined  and  under  which  forty-eight 
barrels  of  powder  had  been  placed.  More  than  half  of  the 
infantry  was  ordered  to  the  assault,  a  third  of  the  army,  or  a 
little  more,  remaining  in  the  field  to  guard  the  Tsar.  We 
were  ready  early  in  the  morning,  as  we  were  ordered,  about 
two  hours  before  daybreak.  I  was  sent  to  make  the  assault 
at  the  lower  gate,  above  the  river  Kazan,  and  I  had  with  me 
twelve  thousand  soldiers.  At  the  four  sides  of  the  city  were 
placed  strong  and  brave  men,  some  of  them  with  large  de- 
tachtbents.  .  .  .  The  Tsar  of  Kazan  and  his  senators 
had  been  informed  about  all  this,  and  they  were  prepared 
against  us,  as  we  against  them.     .     ,     . 

Then  God  helped  us!  My  brother  was  the  first  to  mount 
upon  the  city  wall  by  a  ladder,  and  other  brave  soldiers  were 
with  him.  Hacking  and  spearing  the  Mussulmans  about 
them,  they  climbed  through  the  windows  of  the  great  tower, 
and  from  the  tower  they  rushed  down  to  the  large  city  gate. 
The  Mussulmans  turned  their  backs  on  the  gate  and  ran  up 
the  high  hill  to  the  Tsar's  court,  which  was  strongly  fortified 
with  a  high  fence,  between  palaces  and  stone  mosques.  We 
after  them  to  the  Tsar's  palace,  even  though  we  were  bur- 
dened with  our  armour  and  many  brave  men  had  wounds  on 
their  bodies,  and  very  few  were  left  to  fight  against  them. 
Our  army  which  was  left  outside  of  the  city,  seeing  that  we 
were  within  and  that  the  Tartars  had  run  away  from  the 
walls,  rushed  into  the  city, — and  the  wounded  that  were 
lying  on  the  ground  jumped  up,  and  the  dead  were  resur- 

'  The  siege  of  Kazdn  began  on  August  23,  and  the  city  was  taken 
October  2,  1552. 


ii8  The  Oldest  Period 

rected.  And  not  only  they,  but  those  in  the  camp,  the  cooks 
and  those  that  had  been  left  to  watch  the  horses,  and  others 
who  follow  with  merchandise,  all  ran  into  the  city,  not  to 
fight,  but  to  plunder:  that  place  was  indeed  full  of  the  rich- 
est booty,  gold  and  silver  and  precious  stones,  and  it  teemed 
with  sable  furs  and  other  costly  things. 

LETTER  TO  IVAn  THE  TERRIBLE 

To  the  Tsar,  glorified  by  God,  who  had  once  been  illustri- 
ous in  orthodoxy,  but  who  now,  through  our  sins,  has  be- 
come the  adversary  of  both.  Those  who  have  sense  will 
understand  how  that  your  conscience  is  corrupt  even  beyond 
what  is  found  among  the  infidels.  ...  I  have  not  al- 
lowed before  my  tongue  to  utter  any  of  these  things,  but 
having  suffered  the  bitterest  persecution  from  you,  and  from 
the  bitterness  of  ray  heart  I  shall  speak  to  you  a  little. 

Why,  O  Tsar,  have  you  struck  down  the  mighty  in  Israel? 
"Why  have  you  delivered  to  various  deaths  the  generals  giv'en 
to  you  by  God,  and  why  have  you  spilled  their  victorious, 
saintly  blood  in  the  temples  of  the  Lord,  at  your  royal  ban- 
quets ?  Why  have  j'ou  stained  the  thresholds  of  the  churches 
with  the  blood  of  the  martyrs,  and  why  have  you  contrived 
persecutions  and  death  against  those  who  have  served  you 
willingly  and  have  laid  down  their  lives  for  you,  accusing 
good  Christians  of  treason  and  magic  and  other  unseemly 
things,  and  zealously  endeavouring  to  change  light  into 
darkness  and  to  call  bitter  what  is  sweet  ? 

Of  what  crime  have  they  been  guilty,  O  Tsar,  and  with 
what  have  they  angered  you,  O  Christian  vicar  ?  Had  they 
not,  through  their  bravery,  destroyed  haughtj'^  kingdoms, 
and  made  those  subservient  to  you  by  whom  our  forefathers 
had  been  once  enslaved  ?  Have  not  the  strong  German  cities 
been  given  to  you  by  God,  through  their  wise  foresight  ?  Is 
that  the  way  you  have  rewarded  us,  poor  men,  by  destroying 
us  altogether?  Do  j-^ou,  O  Tsar,  deem  yourself  to  be  im- 
mortal ?  Or  are  you  carried  away  by  an  unheard-of  heresy 
and  imagine  that  you  will   not  have  to  appear  before  the 


Andrey  Mikhaylovich  Kiirbski        119 

Supreme  Judge,  the  godlike  Jesus,  who  will  judge  the  whole 
world,  but  especially  cruel  tormentors  ?  He,  my  Christ,  who 
sits  on  the  throne  of  the  cherubim,  at  the  right  of  the  Su- 
preme Power  upon  high, — will  be  the  judge  between  you 
and  me. 

What  evils  and  persecutions  have  I  not  suffered  from  you! 
And  what  misery  and  torment  have  3'^ou  not  caused  me! 
And  what  mean  calumnies  have  you  not  brought  down  on 
me !  So  many  various  miseries  have  befallen  me  that  I  can- 
not count  them  all  to-day :  my  heart  is  still  oppressed  with 
sorrow  on  account  of  them.  But  I  shall  say  this  much:  I 
have  been  deprived  of  everything,  and  through  you  I  am 
exiled  from  God's  own  country.  I  did  not  implore  with 
gentle  words,  did  not  entreat  you  with  tearful  sobs,  did  not, 
through  the  clergy,  beg  for  any  favour  from  you,  and  you 
have  repaid  me  good  with  evil,  and  my  love  with  an  irre- 
concilable hatred. 

My  blood,  which  has  been  spilled  for  you  like  water,  cries 
to  my  Lord  against  you!  God  sees  our  hearts:  I  have  dili- 
gently searched  my  mind,  have  invoked  the  testimony  of  my 
conscience,  have  looked  inwardly,  have  rummaged,  and  have 
not  found  myself  guilty  before  you  in  anything.  I  have  all 
the  time  led  your  army,  and  have  brought  no  dishonour  upon 
you:  by  the  aid  of  the  Lord's  angel,  I  have  obtained  bril- 
liant victories  to  your  glory,  and  never  have  your  armies 
turned  their  backs  to  the  enemy,  but  he  has  always  been 
gloriously  vanquished  to  your  honour.  And  this  I  did  not  in 
one  year,  nor  in  two,  but  through  a  long  series  of  years,  and 
with  much  toil  and  patience.  I  always  defended  my  coun- 
try, and  little  saw  of  my  parents,  nor  was  I  with  my  wife.  I 
was  continually  out  on  expeditions,  in  distant  cities,  against 
your  enemies,  and  suffered  much  want  and  sickness,  to  which 
my  Lord  Jesus  Christ  is  a  witness.  I  have  frequently  been 
covered  with  wounds  from  the  hands  of  the  barbarians,  in 
many  battles,  and  all  my  body  is  covered  with  sores.  But 
all  this,  O  Tsar,  is  as  if  it  had  not  been,  and  you  have  shown 
me  your  relentless  fury  and  bitter  hatred  which  is  more  fiery 
than  a  furnace. 


I20  The  Oldest  Period 

I  wanted  to  tell  you  in  order  all  my  warlike  exploits  that 
I  had  performed  to  your  honour,  my  Christ  aiding  me,  but  I 
did  not  do  so,  as  God  knows  them  better  than  man  can,  for 
He  gives  rewards  for  all  this,  nay  even  for  a  glass  of  cold 
water;  besides,  I  know  that  you  know  all  that  as  well. 
Know  also  this,  O  Tsar,  that  you  will  not  behold  my  face 
again  in  this  world  before  the  glorious  coming  of  Christ. 
Nor  imagine  that  I  will  forgive  you  what  has  happened :  up 
to  my  death  will  I  continually  cry  out  against  you  in  tears 
to  the  uncreated  Trinity  in  which  I  believe,  and  I  call  to  my 
aid  the  Mother  of  the  Prince  of  the  Cherubim,  my  hope  and 
intercessor,  the  Virgin  Mary,  and  all  the  saints,  God's  elect, 
and  my  forefather,  Priuce  Fe6dor  Rostisldvich,  whose  body 
is  incorrupt,  having  been  preserved  for  many  years,  and 
emits  an  aromatic  odour  from  his  grave  and,  by  the  grace  of 
the  Holy  Ghost,  causes  miraculous  cures,  as  you,  O  Tsar, 
well  know. 

Do  not  imagine,  O  Tsar,  in  your  vanity  that  those  who 
have  been  innocently  struck  down  by  you,  and  who  are  im- 
prisoned and  unjustly  banished  by  you,  have  all  perished; 
do  not  rejoice  and  boast  your  vain  victory.  Those  who  have 
been  slain  by  you  stand  before  the  throne  of  God  and  ask  for 
vengeance  against  you;  and  those  of  us  who  are  imprisoned 
or  unjustly  banished  from  our  country  cry  day  and  night  to 
God !  Though  in  your  pride  you  may  boast  of  your  evil 
power  in  this  temporal,  transitory  world,  and  invent  instru- 
ments of  torture  against  the  race  of  Christians,  and  insult 
and  tread  under  foot  the  image  of  the  angel,  with  the  ap- 
probation of  your  flatterers  and  companions  of  your  table 
and  with  the  approbation  of  your  boydrs  who  make  your 
body  and  soul  to  perish  .  .  .  yet  this  my  letter,  which 
is  wet  with  tears,  I  shall  order  to  be  placed  in  my  tomb,  in 
order  to  go  with  you  before  the  judgment  seat  of  my  Lord 
Jesus  Christ.     Amen. 

Written  in  Volmir,  a  city  of  my  lord,  King  August  Sigis- 
mund,  from  whom  I  hope  favours  and  comfort  for  all  my  sor- 
rows, through  his  royal  kindness,  the  Lord  aiding  me. 


Ivin  the  Terrible  121 

Ivdn  the  Terrible.    (1530-1584.) 

Ivdn  the  Terrible  united  the  qualities  of  a  great  ruler  with  those  of 
a  most  cruel  tyrant.  In  his  long  epistles  to  K'drbski  he  develops  a 
strong  sarcastic  vein  and  defends  himself  with  specious  arguments, 
quoting  copiously  from  the  Bible  and  the  Church  Fathers.  He  denies 
his  cruelty,  but  admits  the  execution  of  traitors,  who,  in  his  case, 
form  an  enormous  category, 

LETTER  TO  PRINCE  KURBSKI 

Our  God,  the  Trinity,  who  has  existed  since  eternity  but 
now  as  Father,  Son,  and  Holy  Ghost,  has  neither  beginning 
nor  end;  through  Him  we  live  and  move  about,  through  Him 
kings  rule  and  the  mighty  write  laws.  By  our  Lord  Jesus 
Christ  the  victorious  standard  of  God's  only  Word  and  the 
blessed  Cross  which  has  never  been  vanquished  have  been 
given  to  Emperor  Constantine,  first  in  piety,  and  to  all  the 
orthodox  tsars  and  protectors  of  orthodoxy  and,  in  so  far  as 
the  Word  of  God  has  been  fulfiUen,  they,  in  eagle's  flight, 
have  reached  all  the  godly  servants  of  God's  Word,  until  a 
spark  of  piety  has  fallen  upon  the  Russian  realm.  The 
autocracy,  by  God's  will,  had  its  origin  in  Grand  Prince 
Vladimir,  who  had  enlightened  all  Russia  through  the  holy 
baptism,  and  the  great  Tsar  Vladimir  Monomdkh,  who  had 
received  memorable  honours  from  the  Greeks,  and  the  valiant 
great  Tsar  Alexander  Nevski,  who  had  obtained  a  great  vic- 
tory over  the  godless  Germans,  and  the  praiseworthy  great 
Tsar  Dmitri,  who  had  obtained  a  great  victory  over  the  Hag- 
arites  beyond  the  Don,  then  it  passed  to  the  avenger  of 
wrongs,  our  ancestor,  the  great  Tsar  Ivdn,  the  gatherer  of 
the  Russian  land  from  among  the  ancestral  possessions,  and 
to  our  father  of  blessed  memory,  the  great  Tsar  Vasili,  until 
it  reached  us,  the  humble  sceptre-bearer  of  the  Russian  empire. 

But  we  praise  God  for  the  great  favour  He  has  shown  me 
in  not  permitting  my  right  hand  to  become  stained  by  the 
blood  of  my  race:  for  we  have  not  snatched  the  realm  from 
anyone,  but  by  the  will  of  God  and  the  blessing  of  our  an- 
cestors and  parents,  were  we  born  in  the  realm,  were  brought 
up  there  and  enthroned,  taking,  by  the  will  of  God  and  the 


122  The  Oldest  Period 

blessing  of  our  ancestors  and  parents,  what  belonged  to  us, 
and  not  seizing  that  which  was  not  ours.  Here  follows  the 
command  of  the  orthodox,  truly  Christian  autocrat,  the  pos- 
sessor of  many  kingdoms, —  our  humble.  Christian  answer 
to  him  who  was  an  orthodox,  true  Christian  and  a  boydr 
of  our  realm,  a  councillor  and  a  general,  but  now  is  a  criminal 
before  the  blessed,  vivifying  cross  of  the  Lord,  a  destroyer 
of  Christians,  a  servant  of  the  enemies  of  Christianity,  who 
has  departed  from  the  divine  worship  of  the  images  and  has 
trodden  under  foot  all  sacred  commands,  destroyed  the  holy 
edifices,  vilified  and  trampled  the  holy  vessels  and  images, 
who  unites  in  one  person  I^eo  the  Isaurian,  Constantine 
Kopronymos  and  lyco  of  Armenia,  —  to  Prince  Audrey 
Mikhdylovich  Kurbski,  who  through  treachery  wanted  to  be- 
come a  ruler  of  Yarosldvl. 

Wherefore,  O  Prince,  if  you  regard  yourself  to  have  piety, 
have  you  lost  your  soul  ?  What  will  you  g^ve  in  its  place 
on  the  day  of  the  terrible  judgment?  Even  if  you  should 
acquire  the  whole  world,  death  will  reach  you  in  the  end! 
Why  have  you  sold  your  soul  for  your  body's  sake  ?  Is  it 
because  you  were  afraid  of  death  at  the  false  instigation  of 
your  demons  and  influential  friends  and  counsellors  ?  .    .    . 

Are  you  not  ashamed  before  your  slave  Vaska  Shibdnov, 
who  preserved  his  piety  and,  having  attached  himself  to  you 
with  a  kiss  of  the  cross,  did  not  reject  you  before  the  Tsar  and 
the  whole  people,  though  standing  at  the  gate  of  death,  but 
praised  you  and  was  all  too  ready  to  die  for  you  ?  But  you 
did  not  emulate  his  devotion :  on  account  of  a  single  angry 
word  of  mine,  have  you  lost  not  only  your  own  soul,  but  the 
souls  of  all  your  ancestors:  for,  by  God's  will,  had  they  been 
given  as  servants  to  our  grandfather,  the  great  Tsar,  and 
they  gave  their  souls  to  him  and  serv^ed  him  up  to  their 
death,  and  ordered  you,  their  children,  to  serve  the  children 
and  grandchildren  of  our  grandfather.  But  you  have  for- 
gotten everything  and  traitorously,  like  a  dog,  have  you 
transgressed  the  oath  and  have  gone  over  to  the  enemies  of 
Christianity,  and,  not  considering  your  wrath,  you  utter 
stupid  words,  hurling,  as  it  were,  stones  at  the  sky.     .     .     . 


Ivan  the  Terrible  123 

We  have  never  spilled  blood  in  the  churches.  As  for  the 
victorious,  saintly  blood, — there  has  none  appeared  in  our 
land,  as  far  as  we  know.  The  thresholds  of  the  churches  :  as 
far  as  our  means  and  intelligence  permit  and  our  subjects 
are  eager  to  serve  us,  the  churches  of  the  Lord  are  resplen- 
dent with  all  kinds  of  adornments,  and  through  the  gifts 
which  we  have  offered  since  your  satanic  domination,  not 
only  the  thresholds  and  pavements,  but  even  the  antecham- 
bers shine  with  ornaments,  so  that  all  the  strangers  may  see 
them.  We  do  not  stain  the  thresholds  of  the  churches  with 
any  blood,  and  there  are  no  martyrs  of  faith  with  us  now-a- 
days.  .  .  .  Tortures  and  persecutions  and  deaths  in 
many  forms  we  have  devised  against  no  one.  As  to  treasons 
and  magic,  it  is  true,  such  dogs  everywhere  suffer  capital 
punishment.     .     .     . 

It  had  pleased  God  to  take  away  our  mother,  the  pious 
Tsaritsa  Helen,  from  the  earthly  kingdom  to  the  kingdom  of 
heaven.  My  brother  George,  who  now  rests  in  heaven,  and 
I  were  left  orphans  and,  as  we  received  no  care  from  any 
one,  we  laid  our  trust  in  the  Holy  Virgin,  and  in  the  prayers 
of  all  the  saints,  and  in  the  blessing  of  our  parents.  When 
I  was  in  my  eighth  year,  our  subjects  acted  according  to 
their  will,  for  they  found  the  empire  without  a  ruler,  and 
did  not  deign  to  bestow  their  voluntary  attention  upon  us, 
their  master,  but  were  bent  on  acquiring  wealth  and  glory, 
and  were  quarrelling  with  each  other.  And  what  have  they 
not  done!  How  many  boydrs,  how  many  friends  of  our 
father  and  generals  they  have  killed!  And  they  seized  the 
farms  and  villages  and  possessions  of  our  uncles,  and  estab- 
lished themselves  therein.  The  treasure  of  our  mother  they 
trod  under  foot  and  pierced  with  sharp  sticks,  and  trans- 
ferred it  to  the  great  treasure,  but  some  of  it  they  grabbed 
themselves;  and  that  was  done  by  your  grandfather  Mikhdylo 
Tuchk6v.  The  Princes  Vasili  and  Ivdn  Shdyski  took  it 
upon  themselves  to  have  me  in  their  keeping,  and  those 
who  had  been  the  chief  traitors  of  our  father  and  mother 
they  let  out  of  prison,  and  they  made  friends  with  them. 
Prince  Vasili  Shtiyski  with  a  Judas  crowd  fell  in  the  court 


124  The  Oldest  Period 

belonging  to  our  uncle  upon  our  father  confessor  Fed6r 
Mishurin,  and  insulted  him,  and  killed  him;  and  they  im- 
prisoned Prince  Ivdn  Fed6rovich  By61ski  and  many  others 
in  various  places,  and  armed  themselves  against  the  realm; 
they  ousted  metropolitan  Daniel  from  the  metropolitan  see 
and  banished  him:  and  thus  they  improved  their  opportun- 
ity, and  began  to  rule  themselves. 

Me  and  my  brother  George,  of  blessed  memory,  they 
brought  up  like  vagrants  and  children  of  the  poorest.  What 
have  I  not  suflfered  for  want  of  garments  and  food!  And  all 
that  against  my  will  and  as  did  not  become  my  extreme 
youth.  I  shall  mention  just  one  thing:  once  in  my  child- 
hood we  were  playing,  and  Prince  Ivdn  Vasflevich  Shuyski 
was  sitting  on  a  bench,  leaning  with  his  elbow  against  our 
father's  bed,  and  even  putting  his  foot  upon  it;  he  treated 
us  not  as  a  parent,  but  as  a  master  .  .  .  who  could 
bear  such  presumption  ?  How  can  I  recount  all  the  miseries 
which  I  have  suffered  in  my  youth  ?  Often  did  I  dine  late, 
against  my  will.  What  had  become  of  the  treasure  left  me 
by  my  father  ?  They  had  carried  everything  away,  under 
the  cunning  pretext  that  they  had  to  pay  the  boydr  children 
from  it,  but,  in  reality,  they  had  kept  it  back  from  them,  to 
their  own  advantage,  and  had  not  paid  them  off  according 
to  their  deserts;  and  they  had  also  held  back  an  immense 
treasure  of  my  grandfather  and  father,  and  made  it  into  gold 
and  silver  vessels,  inscribing  thereupon  the  names  of  their 
parents,  as  if  they  had  been  their  inheritance.  .  .  .  It  is. 
hardly  necessary  to  mention  what  became  of  the  treasure  of 
our  uncles:  they  appropriated  it  all  to  themselves!  Then 
they  attacked  towns  and  villages,  tortured  the  people  most 
cruelly,  brought  much  misery  upon  them,  and  mercilessly 
pillaged  the  possessions  of  the  inhabitants.     .     .     . 

When  we  reached  the  age  of  fifteen,  we,  inspired  by  God, 
undertook  to  rule  our  own  realm  and,  with  the  aid  of  al- 
mighty God,  we  ruled  our  realm  in  peace  and  undisturbed, 
according  to  our  will.  But  it  happened  then  that,  on  ac- 
count of  our  sins,  a  fire  having  spread,  by  God's  will,  the 
royal   city  of  Moscow  was   consumed.     Our  boydrs,   the 


Ivkn  the  Terrible  125 

traitors  whom  you  call  martyrs,  whose  names  I  shall  pur- 
posely pass  over  in  silence,  made  use  of  the  favourable 
opportunity  for  their  mean  treachery,  whispered  into  the 
ears  of  a  stupid  crowd  that  the  mother  of  my  mother,  Prin- 
cess Anna  Glinski,  with  all  her  children  and  household, 
was  in  the  habit  of  extracting  men's  hearts,  and  that  by  a 
similar  sorcery  she  had  put  Moscow  on  fire,  and  that  we 
knew  of  her  doings.  By  the  instigation  of  these  our  traitors, 
a  mass  of  insensate  people,  crying  in  the  manner  of  the  Jews, 
came  to  the  apostolic  cathedral  of  the  holy  martyr  Dimitri 
of  Selun,  dragged  out  of  it  our  boyar  Ydri  Vasilevich  Glinski, 
pulled  him  inhumanly  into  the  cathedral  of  the  Assumption, 
and  killed  the  innocent  man  in  the  church,  opposite  the 
metropolitan's  place;  they  stained  the  floor  of  the  church 
with  his  blood,  dragged  his  body  through  the  front  door,  and 
exposed  him  on  the  market-place  as  a  criminal, — everybody 
knows  about  this  murder  in  the  church.  We  were  then 
living  in  the  village  of  Vorob6vo;  the  same  traitors  instigated 
the  populace  to  kill  us  under  the  pretext  (and  you,  dog,  re- 
peat the  lie)  that  we  were  keeping  from  them  Prince  Yuri's 
mother.  Princess  Anna,  and  his  brother.  Prince  Mikhail. 
How  is  one  not  to  laugh  at  such  stupidity  ?  Why  should 
we  be  incendiaries  in  our  own  empire  ?     .     .     . 

You  say  that  your  blood  has  been  spilled  in  wars  with 
foreigners,  and  you  add,  in  your  foolishness,  that  it  cries  to 
God  against  us.  That  is  ridiculous!  It  has  been  spilled  by 
one,  and  it  cries  out  against  another.  If  it  is  true  that 
your  blood  has  been  spilled  by  the  enemy,  then  you  have 
done  your  duty  to  your  country;  if  you  had  not  done  so, 
you  would  not  have  been  a  Christian  but  a  barbarian: — but 
that  is  not  our  aflFair.  How  much  more  ours,  that  has  been 
spilled  by  you,  cries  out  to  the  Lord  against  you!  Not  with 
wounds,  nor  drops  of  blood,  but  with  much  sweating  and 
toiling  have  I  been  burdened  by  you  unnecessarily  and 
above  my  strength!  Your  many  meannesses  and  persecu- 
tions have  caused  me,  instead  of  blood,  to  shed  many  tears, 
and  to  utter  sobs  and  have  anguish  of  my  soul.     .     .     . 

You  say  you  want  to  put  your  letter  in  your  grave:  that 


126  The  Oldest  Period 

shows  that  you  have  completely  renounced  your  Christian- 
ity! For  God  has  ordered  not  to  resist  evil,  but  you  re- 
nounce the  final  pardon  which  is  granted  to  the  ignorant ; 
therefore  it  is  not  even  proper  that  any  mass  shall  be  sung 
after  you.  In  our  patrimony,  in  the  country  of  Lifland,  you 
name  the  city  of  Volmir  as  belonging  to  our  enemy,  King 
Sigismund:  by  this  you  only  complete  the  treachery  of  a 
vicious  dog!     .     .     . 

Written  in  our  great  Russia,  in  the  famous,  royal,  capital 
city  of  Moscow,  on  the  steps  of  our  imperial  threshold,  in 
the  year  from  the  creation  of  the  world  7072,  the  fifth  day 
of  July. 

The  Domostrdy.    (XVI.  century.) 

The  Domostrby,  i.  e..  House-government,  is  an  important  docnment 
of  the  sixteenth  century,  as  it  throws  a  light  on  the  inner  life  of  the 
Russians  in  the  time  of  Ivdn  the  Terrible.  Its  authorship  is  ascribed 
in  the  extant  manuscripts  to  Sylvester,  the  adviser  of  Ivdn  the  Terri- 
ble, but  it  is  assumed  that  he  was  only  the  last  compiler  of  various 
codes  of  conduct  that  were  known  in  Russia  before  his  day.  At  least, 
the  whole  production  bears  the  stamp  of  being  a  composite  work. 
Two  distinct  groups  are  discerned  in  it :  the  first  has  continual  refer- 
ences to  the  Tsar  and  the  honours  due  him  ;  the  other  deals  with  a 
society  whose  chief  interest  is  purely  commercial,  aud  appeals  to  the 
judgment  of  the  people,  instead  of  to  that  of  the  Tsar.  From  this 
the  inference  is  drawn  that  the  first  had  its  origin  in  Moscow,  the 
second  in  N6vgorod.  The  morality  of  the  Doinostrby  is  one  of  ex- 
ternal formalism.  To  preserve  appearances  before  God  and  men  is, 
according  to  this  code,  the  chief  aim  in  life. 

HOW  TO  EDUCATE  CHILDREN  AND  BRING 
THEM   UP   IN  THE   FEAR  OF  GOD 

If  God  send  children,  sons  or  daughters,  father  and  mother 
must  take  care  of  these  their  children.  Provide  for  them 
and  bring  them  up  in  good  instruction.  Teach  them  the 
fear  of  God  and  politeness  and  propriety,  and  teach  them 
some  handicraft,  according  to  the  time  and  age  of  the  child- 
ren: the  mother  instructing  her  daughters,  and  the  father 
his  sons,  as  best  he  knows  and  God  counsels  him.  Love 
them  and  watch  them  and  save  them  through  fear.     Teach- 


The  Domostr6y  127 

ing  and  instructing  them  and  reasoning  with  them,  punish 
them.  Teach  your  children  in  their  youth,  and  you  will 
have  a  quiet  old  age.  Ivook  after  their  bodily  cleanliness, 
and  keep  them  from  all  sin,  like  the  apple  of  your  eye  and 
your  own  souls.  If  the  children  transgress  through  the 
neglect  of  their  parents,  the  parents  will  answer  for  these 
sins  on  the  day  of  the  terrible  judgment.  If  the  children  are 
not  taken  care  of  and  transgress  through  lack  of  the  parents' 
instruction,  or  do  some  evil,  there  will  be  both  to  the  parents 
and  children  a  sin  before  God,  scorn  and  ridicule  before  men, 
a  loss  to  the  house,  grief  to  oneself,  and  cost  and  shame  from 
the  judges.  If  by  God-fearing,  wise  and  sensible  people 
the  children  be  brought  up  in  the  fear  of  God,  and  in  good 
instruction  and  sensible  teaching,  in  wisdom  and  politeness 
and  work  and  handicraft,  such  children  and  their  parents  are 
loved  by  God,  blessed  by  the  clerical  vocation,  and  praised 
by  good  people;  and  when  they  are  of  the  proper  age,  good 
people  will  gladly  and  thankfully  marry  off  their  sons,  ac- 
cording to  their  possessions  and  the  will  of  God,  and  will 
give  their  daughters  in  marriage  to  their  sons.  And  if  God 
take  away  one  of  their  children,  after  the  confession  and 
extreme  unction,  the  parents  bring  a  pure  offering  to  God, 
to  take  up  an  abode  in  the  eternal  mansion;  and  the  child  is 
bold  to  beg  for  God's  mercy  and  forgiveness  of  his  parents' 
sins. 

HOW  TO  TEACH   CHILDREN  AND  SAVE  THEM 
THROUGH   FEAR 

Punish  your  son  in  his  youth,  and  he  will  give  you  a  quiet 
old  age,  and  restfulness  to  your  soul.  Weaken  not  beating 
the  boy,  for  he  will  not  die  from  your  striking  him  with  the 
rod,  but  will  be  in  better  health:  for  while  you  strike  his 
body,  you  save  his  soul  from  death.  If  you  love  your  son, 
punish  him  frequently,  that  you  may  rejoice  later.  Chide 
your  son  in  his  childhood,  and  you  will  be  glad  in  his  man- 
hood, and  you  will  boast  among  evil  persons,  and  your 
enemies  will  be  envious.  Bring  up  your  child  with  much 
prohibition,  and  you  will  have  peace  and  blessing  from  him. 


128  The  Oldest  Period 

Do  not  smile  at  him,  or  play  with  him,  for  though  that  will 
diminish  your  grief  while  he  is  a  child,  it  will  increase  it 
when  he  is  older,  and  you  will  cause  much  bitterness  to 
your  soul.  Give  him  no  power  in  his  youth,  but  crush  his 
ribs  while  he  is  growing  and  does  not  in  his  wilfulness  obey 
you,  lest  there  be  an  aggravation  and  suffering  to  your  soul, 
a  loss  to  your  house,  destruction  to  your  property,  scorn 
from  your  neighbours  and  ridicule  from  your  enemies,  and 
cost  and  worriment  from  the  authorities. 

HOW  CHRISTIANS  ARE  TO  CURE  DISEASES 
AND  AI.Iv  KINDS  OF  AUGMENTS 

If  God  send  any  disease  or  ailment  down  upon  a  person, 
let  him  cure  himself  through  the  grace  of  God,  through 
tears,  prayer,  fasting,  charity  to  the  poor,  and  true  repent- 
ance. Let  him  thank  the  Lord  and  beg  His  forgiveness,  and 
show  mercy  and  undisguised  charity  to  everybody.  Have 
the  clergy  pray  to  the  Lord  for  you,  and  sing  the  mass. 
Sanctify  the  water  with  the  holy  crosses  and  holy  relics 
and  miracle-working  images,  and  be  anointed  with  the  holy 
oil.  Frequent  the  miracle-working  and  holy  places,  and 
pray  there  with  a  pure  conscience.  In  that  way  you  will 
receive  from  God  a  cure  for  all  your  ailments.  But  you 
must  henceforth  abstain  from  sin,  and  in  the  future  do  no 
wrong,  and  keep  the  commands  of  the  spiritual  fathers,  and 
do  penance.  Thus  you  will  be  purified  from  sin,  and  your 
spiritual  and  bodily  ailment  will  be  cured,  and  God  will  be 
gracious  to  you. 

THE  WIFE  IS  ALWAYS    AND    IN    ALL  THINGS 
TO  TAKE  COUNSEL  WITH  HER  HUSBAND 

In  all  affairs  of  every-day  life,  the  wife  is  to  take  counsel 
with  her  husband,  and  to  ask  him,  if  she  needs  anything. 
Let  her  be  sure  that  her  husband  wants  her  to  keep  com- 
pany with  the  guests  she  invites,  or  the  people  she  calls 
upon.     Let  her  put  on  the  best  garment,  if  she  receives  a 


The  Domostr6y  129 

g^est,  or  herself  is  invited  somewhere  to  dinner.  By  all 
means  let  her  abstain  from  drinking  liquor,  for  a  drunk  man 
is  bad  enough,  but  a  drunk  woman  has  no  place  in  the  world. 
A  woman  ought  to  talk  with  her  lady-friends  of  handwork 
and  housekeeping.  She  must  pay  attention  to  any  good 
word  that  is  said  in  her  own  house,  or  in  that  of  her  friend: 
how  good  women  live,  how  they  keep  house,  manage  their 
household,  instruct  their  children  and  servants,  obey  their 
husbands,  and  ask  their  advice  in  everything,  and  submit  to 
them.  And  if  there  be  aught  she  does  not  know,  let  her 
politely  inquire  about  it.  .  .  .  It  is  good  to  meet  such 
good  women,  not  for  the  sake  of  eating  and  drinking  with 
them,  but  for  the  sake  of  good  converse  and  information,  for 
it  is  profitable  to  listen  to  them.  Let  not  a  woman  rail  at 
anyone,  or  gossip  about  others.  If  she  should  be  asked 
something  about  a  person,  let  her  answer:  "I  know  nothing 
about  it,  and  have  heard  nothing  of  it;  I  do  not  inquire 
about  things  that  do  not  concern  me;  nor  do  I  sit  in  judg- 
ment over  the  wives  of  princes,  boyars,  or  my  neighbours." 

HOW  TO  INSTRUCT  SERVANTS 
Enjoin  your  servants  not  to  talk  about  other  people.  If 
they  have  been  among  strangers,  and  have  noticed  anything 
bad  there,  let  them  not  repeat  it  at  home;  nor  should  they 
bruit  about  what  is  going  on  at  home.  A  servant  must  re- 
member what  he  has  been  sent  for,  and  he  must  not  know, 
nor  answer  any  other  questions  that  are  put  to  him.  The 
moment  he  has  carried  out  his  commission,  he  should  return 
home  and  report  to  his  master  in  regard  to  the  matter  he 
has  been  sent  for;  let  him  not  gossip  of  things  he  has  not 
been  ordered  to  report,  lest  he  cause  quarrel  and  coldness 
between  the  masters. 

If  you  send  your  servant,  or  son,  to  tell,  or  do  something, 
or  buy  a  thing,  ask  him  twice:  "  What  have  I  ordered  you 
to  do?  What  are  you  to  say,  or  do,  or  buy?  "  If  he  re- 
peats to  you  as  you  have  ordered  him,  all  is  well.  .  .  . 
If  5'^ou  send  anywhere  some  eatables  or  liquids,  send  full 
measures,  so  that  they  cannot  lie  about  them.     Send  your 

VOL.  I.— 9. 


I30  The  Oldest  Period 

wares  after  having  measured  or  weighed  them,  and  count 
the  money,  before  you  send  it  out.  Best  of  all,  dispatch 
under  seal.  Carefully  instruct  the  servant  whether  he  is  to 
leave  the  things  at  the  house,  if  the  master  be  absent,  or  if 
he  is  to  bring  them  back  home.     .     .     . 

When  a  servant  is  sent  to  genteel  people,  let  him  knock 
at  the  door  softly.  If  anyone  should  ask  him,  as  he  passes 
through  the  courtyard :  ' '  What  business  brings  you  here  ?  ' ' 
let  him  not  give  him  any  satisfaction,  but  say :  "  I  have  not 
been  sent  to  you ;  I  shall  tell  to  him  to  whom  I  have  been 
sent."  I^et  him  clean  his  dirty  feet  before  the  antechamber, 
or  house,  or  cell,  wipe  his  nose,  clear  his  throat,  and  correctly 
say  his  prayer;  and  if  he  does  not  receive  an  "  amen"  in 
response,  he  should  repeat  the  prayer  in  a  louder  voice,  twice 
or  three  times.  If  he  still  receives  no  answer,  he  must 
softly  knock  at  the  door.  When  he  is  admitted,  he  should 
bow  before  the  holy  images,  give  his  master's  respects,  and 
tell  his  message.  While  doing  so,  let  him  not  put  his  finger 
in  his  nose,  nor  cough,  nor  clean  his  nose,  nor  clear  his 
throat,  nor  spit.  If  he  absolutely  must  do  so,  let  him  step 
aside.  He  must  stand  straight  and  not  look  to  either  side 
when  reporting  the  message;  nor  should  he  relate  any 
matter  not  relevant  to  the  message.  Having  done  his  duty, 
he  should  forthwith  return  home,  to  report  to  his  master. 

Songs  Collected  by  Richard  James.    (1619-1620.) 

Richard  James,  a  graduate  of  Oxford,  had  been  sent  to  Russia  to 
look  after  the  spiritual  welfare  of  the  young  Englishmen  who  were 
connected  with  the  Merchant  Company.  He  arrived  in  Moscow  on 
January  19,  1619,  and  started  back  by  the  way  of  Arkhangelsk  on 
August  20  of  the  same  year.  Having  been  shipwrecked,  he  was 
compelled  to  pass  the  winter  in  Kholmog6ry,  from  which  place  he 
left  for  England  the  next  spring.  He  took  with  him  a  copy  of  six 
songs  that  some  Russian  had  written  out  for  him  :  they  are  now  de- 
posited in  the  Bodleian  Library.  These  songs  are  interesting  as  be- 
ing the  oldest  folksongs  collected  in  Russia,  and  as  having  been 
composed  immediately  after  the  events  which  they  describe. 

The  Song  of  the  Priticess  Kskniya  Borisovna  is  given  in  W.  R. 
Morfill's  Story  0/  Russia,  New  York  and  lyondon,  1890. 


James's  Collection  131 

INCURSION  OF  THE   CRIMEAN  TARTARS' 

Not  a  mighty  cloud  has  covered  the  sky, 

Nor  mighty  thunders  have  thundered: 

Whither  travels  the  dog,  Crimea's  tsar  ? — 

To  the  mighty  tsarate  of  Muscovy. 

"  To-day  we  will  go  against  stone-built  Moscow, 

But  coming  back,  we  will  take  Ryazdn." 

And  when  they  were  at  the  river  Okd, 

They  began  their  white  tents  to  pitch. 

"  Now  think  a  thought  with  all  your  minds: 

Who  is  to  sit  in  stone-built  Moscow, 

And  who  is  to  sit  in  Vladimir, 

And  who  is  to  sit  in  Suzdal, 

And  who  will  hold  old  Ryazdn, 

And  who  will  sit  in  Zvenigorod, 

And  who  will  sit  in  N6vgorod  ?  " 

There  stepped  forward  Divi  Murza,  son  of  Uldn: 

"  Listen,  our  lord,  Crimea's  tsar! 

You,  our  lord,  shall  sit  in  stone-built  Moscow, 

And  your  son  in  Vladimir, 

And  your  nephew  in  Slizdal, 

And  your  relative  in  Zvenigorod, 

And  let  the  equerry  hold  old  Ryazan, 

But  to  me,  O  lord,  grant  N6vgorod : 

There,  in  N6vgorod,  lies  my  luck." 

The  voice  of  the  Lord  called  out  from  heaven: 

"  Listen,  you  dog,  Crimea's  tsar! 

Know  you  not  the  tsarate  of  Muscovy  ? 

There  are  in  Moscow  seventy  Apostles,' 

Besides  the  three  Sanctified ; 

'  Having  destroyed  almost  the  whole  of  Moscow  by  fire  in  1572, 
Devl6t-Gir6y  made  again  an  incursion  the  next  year.  He  was  so  sure 
of  an  easy  victory,  that  the  streets  of  Moscow,  so  Kfirbski  tells,  were 
allotted  in  advance  to  the  Murzas.  He  came  with  an  army  of  120,000 
men,  and  lefl  on  the  field  of  battle  100,000. 

'  Either  churches  or  images  of  the  apostles  ;  a  similar  interpretation 
holds  for  the  next  line. 


132  The  Oldest  Period 

And  there  is  in  Moscow  still  an  orthodox  Tsar." 
And  you  fled,  you  dog,  Crimea's  tsar, 
Not  over  the  highways,  nor  the  main  road. 
Nor  following  the  black  standard. 

THE  SONG  OF  THE   PRINCESS  KSl^NIYA 
BORISOVNA  ' 

There  weepeth  a  little  bird, 

A  little  white  quail: 

"Alas,  that  I  so  young  must  grieve  ! 

They  wish  to  burn  the  green  oak, 

To  destroy  my  little  nest, 

To  kill  my  little  ones, 

To  catch  me,  quail." 

In  Moscow  the  Princess  weepeth: 

"Alas  that  I  so  young  must  grieve  ! 

For  there  comes  to  Moscow  the  traitor, 

Grishka  Otrepev  Rozstriga,* 

Who  wants  to  take  me  captive, 

And  having  captured  make  me  a  nun. 

To  send  me  into  the  monastery. 

But  I  do  not  wish  to  become  a  nun, 

To  go  into  a  monastery: 

I  shall  keep  my  dark  cell  open. 

To  look  at  the  fine  fellows. 

O  our  beautiful  corridors  ! 

Who  will  walk  over  you 

After  our  tsarian  life 

And  after  Boris  Godun6v? 

O  our  beautiful  palace  halls ! 

Who  will  be  sitting  in  you 

After  our  tsarian  life 

And  after  Boris  Godun6v  ?  " 

And  in  Moscow  the  Princess  weepeth, 

'  She  was  shorn  a  nun  by  order  of  the  False  Demetrius,  and  was 
sent  to  a  distant  monastery. 
*  Rozstriga  means  ''he  who  has  abandoned  his  tonsure." 


James's  Collection  133 

The  daughter  of  Boris  Godun6v: 

"  O  God,  our  merciful  Saviour  ! 

Wherefore  is  our  tsardom  perished, — 

Is  it  for  father's  sinning, 

Or  for  mother's  not  praying  ? 

And  you  beloved  palace  halls! 

Who  will  rule  in  you. 

After  our  tsarian  life  ? 

Fine  stuffs  of  drawn  lace  ! — 

Shall  we  wind  you  around  the  birches  ? 

Fine  gold-worked  towels ! 

Shall  we  throw  you  into  the  woods  ? 

Fine  earrings  of  hyacinth 

Shall  we  hang  you  on  branches, 

After  our  tsarian  life, 

After  the  reign  of  our  father, 

Glorious  Boris  Godun6v  ? 

Wherefore  comes  to  Moscow  Rozstriga, 

And  wants  to  break  down  the  palaces. 

And  to  take  me,  princess,  captive, 

And  to  send  me  to  Ustyuzhna  Zheleznaya, 

To  make  me,  princess,  a  nun. 

To  place  me  behind  a  walled  garden  ? 

Why  must  I  grieve. 

As  they  take  me  to  the  dark  cell. 

And  the  abbess  gives  me  her  blessing  ?  " 

THE  RETURN  OF  PATRIARCH  FILARI^T  TO 
MOSCOW ' 

The  tsarate  of  Muscovy  was  happy 

And  all  the  holy  Russian  land. 

Happy  was  the  sovereign,  the  orthodox  Tsar, 

The  Grand  Duke  Mikhail  Fed6rovich, 

For  he  was  told  that  his  father  had  arrived, 

His  father  Filaret  Nikitich, 

'  Filaret  Nikitich,  the  father  of  Mikhail  Fe6dorovich,  returned 
from  his  Lithuanian  captivity  in  1619  and  was  at  once  proclaimed 
Patriarch. 


134  The  Oldest  Period 

From  the  land  of  the  infidel,  from  Lithuania. 

He  had  brought  back  with  him  many  princes  and  boydrs, 

He  had  also  brought  the  boydr  of  the  Tsar, 

Prince  Mikhail  Borisovich  Sheyn. 

There  had  come  together  many  princes,  boydrs,  and  digni> 

taries, 
In  the  mighty  tsarate  of  Muscovy: 
They  wished  to  meet  Filaret  Nikitich 
Outside  the  famous  stone-built  Moscow. 
'T  is  not  the  red  sun  in  its  course, — 
'T  is  the  orthodox  Tsar  that  has  gone  out, 
To  meet  his  father  dear, 
Ivord  Filar6t  Nikitich. 
With  the  Tsar  went  his  uncle, 
Ivdn  Nikitich  the  boydr. — 
' '  The  Lord  grant  my  father  be  well, 
My  father,  lord  Filaret  Nikitich." 
They  went  not  into  the  palace  of  the  Tsar, 
They  went  into  the  cathedral  of  the  Most  Holy  Virgin, 
To  sing  an  honourable  mass. 
And  he  blessed  his  beloved  child : 
**  God  grant  the  orthodox  Tsar  be  well, 
Grand  Duke  Mikhail  Fed6rovich! 
And  for  him  to  rule  the  tsarate  of  Muscovy 
And  the  holy  Russian  land. 

Yuri  Krizh^nich.    (1617-about  1677.) 

Krizhdnich  was  a  Croatian  who  had  studied  at  the  Croatian  Semi- 
nary at  Vienna,  at  the  university  of  Bologna,  and  at  the  Greek  Col- 
lege of  St  Athanasius  at  Rome,  where  he  came  in  contact  with, 
some  Russians.  He  early  dreamed  of  a  union  of  all  the  Slavic  na- 
tions under  the  rule  of  Russia,  and  in  1657  he  went  to  Southern 
Russia,  where  he  began  a  propaganda  among  the  Cossacks  in  favour 
of  a  union  with  that  country.  Two  years  later  he  appeared  in 
Moscow,  where  his  Catholic  religion  and  his  eflPorts  at  introducing  a 
Western  culture  brought  him  into  disrepute,  and  he  was  at  once 
banished  to  Siberia,  where  he  lived  until  the  year  1676.  He  com- 
posed a  large  number  of  works  on  an  Universal  Slavic  language,  on 
the  Russian  empire  in  the  seventeenth  century,  and  on  the  union 
of  the  Churches,  writing  not  in  Russian,  but  in  a  strange  mixture  of 


Yiiri  Krizh^nich  .        135 

several  Slavic  languages,  of  his  own  invention.  In  these  he  de- 
veloped a  strong  Panslavism,  full  of  hatred  of  everything  foreign, 
except  foreign  culture,  and  expressed  high  hopes  for  Russia's  future 
greatness.  His  works  are  said  to  have  been  used  by  Peter  the  Great, 
but  they  were  not  published  until  i860. 

POUTICAI.  REASONS  FOR  THE  UNION  OF  THE 
CHURCHES 

The  sixth  reason  for  my  contention  is  of  a  political  nature, 
and  refers  to  the  nation's  weal.  For  this  discord  of  the 
Churches  is  even  now  the  cause  of  Doroshenko's  rebellion 
and  the  Turkish  invasion,  and  continuation  of  the  present 
war,  and  has  from  the  beginning  been  the  cause  of  much 
evil.  The  Poles  have  an  ancient  adage:  Aut  Moscovia 
Polonizat,  aut  Polonia  Moscovizat,  i.  e..  Either  Moscow 
shall  become  Polish,  or  Poland  shall  be  a  part  of  the  Rus- 
sian empire.  It  is  written  in  the  histories  of  other  nations, 
and  the  advisers  of  the  Tsar  know  it,  that  in  the  days  of 
Fe6dor  Ivdnovich  and  later  there  have  been  many  congresses 
held  and  embassies  sent  for  the  purpose  of  securing  a  Rus- 
sian ruler  for  Poland  and  Lithuania.  There  is  no  doubt  but 
that  Poland  and  Lithuania  would  have  become  possessions  of 
the  Russian  Tsars,  if  it  were  not  for  the  division  of  the 
Churches.  And  there  would  not  have  been  many  old  and 
new  wars,  nor  bloodshed,  in  which  so  many  hundreds  of 
thousands  of  innocent  people  have  perished  by  the  sword, 
and  have  been  led  into  Mussulman  captivity.  And  the 
Russian  nation  would  have  long  ago  been  far  advanced  in 
profane  and  political  sciences  that  are  so  necessary  for  all 
well-educated  persons,  and  would  not  be  scorned  and  ridi- 
culed and  hated  by  the  European  nations  for  its  barbarism. 
Nor  would  it  suffer  such  unbearable  disgrace  and  losses  in 
war  and  commerce  from  the  Germans  and  Crimeans,  as  it  is 
suffering  now.  Book  knowledge  and  political  wisdom  is  a 
leaven  of  the  mind,  and  a  fast  friendship  with  the  Poles  and 
Lithuanians  would  have  made  the  Russian  nation  more  re- 
nowned and  more  feared  by  the  surrounding  peoples,  and 
richer  in  all  earthly  possessions. 


136       .  The  Oldest  Period 

ON  KNOWLEDGE 

Kings  must  instruct  their  subjects,  parents  their  children, 
how  to  obtain  knowledge.  The  time  has  come  for  our  nation 
to  be  instructed  in  various  branches,  for  God  has  in  His 
mercy  and  kindness  uplifted  through  Russia  a  Slavic  king- 
dom to  glory,  power  and  majesty,  such  as  for  splendour  has 
never  existed  before  among  us.  We  observe  with  other 
nations  that  as  soon  as  a  kingdom  rises  to  higher  import- 
ance, the  sciences  and  arts  at  once  begin  to  flourish  among 
them.  We,  too,  must  learn,  for  under  the  honoured  rule  of 
the  Righteous  Tsar  and  Great  King  Alexis  Mikhdylovich 
we  have  an  opportunity  to  wipe  off  the  mould  of  our  ancient 
barbarism,  to  acquire  various  sciences,  to  adopt  a  better 
organisation  of  society,  and  to  reach  a  higher  well-being. 

ON  FOREIGNERS 

We  are  not  possessed  of  an  innate  vivacity,  nor  praise- 
worthy national  characteristics,  nor  sincerity  of  heart.  For 
people  who  have  such  pride  do  not  allow  foreigners  to  com- 
mand them,  except  by  force,  whereas  our  nation  of  its  own 
free  will  invites  foreigners  to  come  to  its  country.  Not 
one  people  under  the  sun  has  since  the  beginning  of  the 
world  been  so  abused  and  disgraced  by  foreigners  as  we 
Slavs  have  been  by  the  Germans.  Our  whole  Slavic  nation 
has  been  subject  to  this  kind  of  treatment;  everywhere  we 
have  upon  our  shoulders  Germans,  Jews,  Scotchmen,  Gyp- 
sies, Armenians,  Greeks  and  merchants  of  other  nationali- 
ties, who  suck  our  blood.  In  Russia  you  will  see  nowhere 
any  wealth,  except  in  the  Tsar's  treasury;  everywhere  there 
is  dire,  bare  poverty. 

Grig6ri  Kotoshikhin.    (1630-1667.) 

Grig6ri  Kotoshikhin  was  a  clerk,  and  later  a  scribe  (f>odydchi)  in 
the  Department  of  Legations,  a  kind  of  Foreign  OflSce.  He  had  been 
frequently  employed  as  an  ambassador  in  connection  with  various 
treaties  between  Russia  and  Sweden  and  Poland.  While  at  Moscow, 
he  had  been  guilty  of  some  dishonesty  to  his  own  country  by  giving 
certain  secrets  of  State  to  the  Swedish  ambassador ;  but  that  was  an 


Grigori  Kotoshikhin  137 

offence  not  uncommon  at  Moscow,  where  patriotism  was  seldom  of  a 
disinterested  character.  In  1664  he  was  sent  out  with  the  Russian 
army  that  was  then  operating  against  Poland.  Shortly  after,  its  two 
generals,  Cherkdsski  and  Prozor6vski,  were  recalled,  and  Dolgortiki 
was  sent  in  their  place.  The  latter  tried  to  get  Kotoshikhin's  aid  in 
denouncing  his  two  predecessors  for  traitorous  actions,  but  Kotosh- 
ikhin refused.  Fearing  the  wrath  of  Dolgortiki,  he  fled,  first  to 
Poland,  and  then,  through  Prussia  and  Lubeck,  to  Sweden.  He 
settled  in  Stockholm,  where  he  was  employed  in  a  semi-official  ca- 
pacity in  the  Foreign  Office.  In  a  fit  of  intoxication  he  killed  his 
host,  who  was  the  official  Russian  translator  of  Sweden,  and  for  this 
crime  he  was  beheaded. 

Kotoshikhin  had  evidently  formed  the  plan  of  writing  about 
Russian  customs  before  his  arrival  in  Stockholm,  but  he  was  also 
encouraged  by  distinguished  Swedish  statesmen,  who  hoped  to  find 
important  information  about  Russia  in  his  work.  In  his  capacity  of 
Legation  scribe  Kotoshikhin  had  an  excellent  opportunity  to  become 
intimately  acquainted  with  the  immediate  surroundings  of  the  Tsar  ; 
but  he  supplemented  his  knowledge  by  a  clear  insight,  which  he  had 
gained  in  his  intercourse  with  other  nations.  There  is  no  other  work 
of  Old  Russia  that  gives  so  detailed  an  account  of  contemporary 
society.  Kotoshikhin's  work  was  first  discovered  in  1840,  though 
several  manuscript  translations  in  Swedish  were  known  to  be  extant 
in  various  libraries. 

THE  EDUCATION  OF  THE  PRINCES 

FROM    CHAP.    I. 

For  the  bringing  up  of  the  Tsar^vich  or  Tsar6vna  they 
select  from  among  the  women  of  all  ranks  a  good,  pure, 
sweet-tempered  and  healthy  woman,  and  that  woman  resides 
for  a  year  in  the  Upper  Palace,  in  the  apartments  of  the 
Tsaritsa.  At  the  expiration  of  the  year,  the  husband  of 
that  woman,  if  she  be  of  noble  origin,  is  made  governor  of 
a  city,  or  receives  some  lands  in  perpetuity;  if  she  be  a 
scribe's,  or  some  other  serving-man's  wife,  he  is  promoted 
and  granted  a  goodly  salary ;  if  he  be  a  countryman,  he  is 
given  a  good  sum,  and  both  are  freed  from  the  taxes  and 
other  imposts  of  the  Tsar  during  their  whole  lives.  The 
Tsar^vich  and  Tsar6vna  have  also  a  chief- nurse  to  look  after 
them,  a  distinguished  boydr's  wife,  —  an  old  widow,  and  a 
nurse  and  other  servants.     When  the  Tsardvich  reaches  the 


138  The  Oldest  Period 

age  of  five,  he  is  put  in  the  keeping  of  a  renowned  boydr,  a 
quiet  and  wise  man,  and  the  latter  has  for  a  companion 
a  man  from  the  lower  ranks;  they  also  choose  from  among 
the  children  of  the  boydrs  a  few  of  the  same  age  as  the 
Tsar^vich,  to  be  his  servants  and  butlers.  When  the  time 
arrives  to  teach  the  Tsar^vich  to  read  and  write,  they  select 
teachers  from  the  instructed  people,  who  are  of  a  quiet  dis- 
position and  not  given  to  drinking;  the  teacher  of  writing  is 
chosen  from  among  the  Legation  scribes;  they  receive  in- 
struction in  Russia  in  no  other  language,  neither  Latin, 
Greek,  German  nor  any  other,  except  Russian. 

The  Tsar6viches  and  Tsar6vnas  have  each  separate  apart- 
ments and  servants  to  look  after  them.  No  one  is  permitted 
to  see  the  Tsar^vich  before  his  fifteenth  year,  except  those 
people  who  serve  him,  and  the  boydrs  and  Near  People ' ; 
but  after  fifteen  years  he  is  shown  to  all  people,  as  his  father 
goes  with  him  to  church  or  to  entertainments.  When  the 
people  find  out  that  he  has  been  presented,  they  come  on 
purpose  from  many  cities  to  get  a  look  at  him.  As  the 
Tsar^viches,  when  they  are  young,  and  the  elder  and 
younger  Tsardvnas  go  to  church,  there  are  borne  cloth 
screens  all  around  them,  so  that  they  cannot  be  seen;  like- 
wise, they  cannot  be  seen  when  they  stand  in  church,  ex- 
cept by  the  clergy,  for  they  are  surrounded  in  church  with 
taffeta,  and  there  are  few  people  in  church  during  that  time 
but  boydrs  and  Near  People.  Similarly,  when  they  travel 
to  the  monasteries  to  pray,  their  carriages  are  covered  with 
taffeta.  For  their  winter  rides,  the  Tsaritsa  and  Tsar^vnas 
use  kaptdnas,  that  is,  sleighs  in  the  shape  of  small  huts  that 
are  covered  with  velvet  or  red  cloth,  with  doors  at  both 
sides,  with  mica  windows  and  taffeta  curtains;  for  their  sum- 
mer rides  they  use  kolymdgas  that  are  also  covered  with 
cloth ;  these  are  entered  by  steps  and  are  made  like  simple 
carts  on  wheels,  and  not  like  carriages  that  hang  down  on 
leather  straps.  These  kolymdgas  and  kaptdnas  have  two 
shafts,  and  are  without  an  axle;  only  one  horse  is  hitched 
in  them,  with  other  horses  in  tandem. 

'  A  division  of  nobility  below  the  boydrs. 


Grig6ri  Kotoshikhin  139 

THE  PRIVATE  LIFE  OE  THE  BOYIrS  AND  OF 
OTHER  RANKS  (CHAP.    13) 

Boy^rs  and  Near  People  live  in  their  houses,  both  of  stone 
and  wood,  that  are  not  well  arranged;  their  wives  and 
children  live  all  in  separate  rooms.  Only  a  few  of  the 
greater  boydrs  have  their  own  churches  in  their  courts;  and 
those  of  the  high  and  middle  boydrs  who  have  no  churches 
of  their  own,  but  who  are  permitted  to  have  priests  at  their 
houses,  have  the  matins  and  vespers  and  other  prayers  said 
in  their  own  apartments,  but  they  attend  mass  in  any  church 
they  may  choose;  they  never  have  the  mass  in  their  own 
houses.  The  boydrs  and  Near  People  pay  their  priests  a 
yearly  salary,  according  to  agreement;  if  the  priests  are 
married  people,  they  receive  a  monthly  allowance  of  food 
and  drink,  but  the  widowed  priests  eat  at  the  same  table 
with  their  boydrs. 

On  church  holidays,  and  on  other  celebrations,  such  as 
name  days,  birthdays  and  christenings,  they  frequently 
celebrate  together. 

It  is  their  custom  to  prepare  simple  dishes,  without  season- 
ing, without  berries,  or  sugar,  without  pepper,  ginger  or 
other  spices,  and  they  are  little  salted  and  without  vinegar. 
They  place  on  the  table  one  dish  at  a  time;  the  other  dishes 
are  brought  from  the  kitchen  and  are  held  in  the  hands  by 
the  servants.  The  dishes  that  have  little  vinegar,  salt  and 
pepper  are  seasoned  at  the  table;  there  are  in  all  fifty  to 
one  hundred  such  dishes. 

The  table  manners  are  as  follows:  before  dinner  the  hosts 
order  their  wives  to  come  out  and  greet  their  guests.  When 
the  women  come,  they  place  themselves  in  the  hall,  or  room, 
where  the  guests  are  dining,  at  the  place  of  honour,'  and  the 
guests  stand  at  the  door;  the  women  greet  the  guests  with 
the  small  salute,'  but  the  guests  bow  to  the  ground.  Then 
the  host  makes  a  low  obeisance  to  his  guests  and  bids  them 
kiss  his  wife.     At  the  request  of  his  guests,  the  host  kisses 

'  In  the  front  comer,  under  the  holy  images. 
*  Bending  as  far  as  the  girdle. 


I40  The  Oldest  Period 

his  wife  first;  then  the  guests  make  individual  bows  and, 
stepping  forward,  kiss  his  wife  and,  walking  back  again, 
bow  to  her  once  more;  she  makes  the  small  salute  each  time 
she  kisses  a  guest.  Then  the  hostess  brings  each  guest  a 
glass  of  double-  or  treble-spiced  brandy,  the  size  of  the  glass 
being  a  fourth,  or  a  little  more,  of  a  quart.  The  host  makes 
as  many  low  obeisances  as  there  are  guests,  asking  each  one 
in  particular  to  partake  of  the  brandy  which  his  wife  is 
oflFering  them.  By  the  request  of  the  guests,  the  host  bids 
his  wife  to  drink  first,  then  he  drinks  himself,  and  then  the 
guests  are  served ;  the  guests  make  a  low  obeisance  before 
drinking,  and  also  after  they  have  drunk  and  as  they  re- 
turn the  glass.  To  those  that  do  not  drink  brandy,  a  cup  of 
Rumney  or  Rhine  wine,  or  some  other  liquor,  is  offered. 

After  this  drinking  the  hostess  makes  a  bow  to  the  guests 
and  retires  to  her  apartments  to  meet  her  guests,  the  wives 
of  the  boydrs.  The  hostess  and  the  wives  of  the  guests  never 
dine  with  the  men,  except  at  weddings;  an  exception  is  also 
made  when  the  guests  are  near  relatives  and  there  are  no 
outsiders  present  at  the  dinner.  During  the  dinner,  the  host 
and  guests  drink  after  every  course  a  cup  of  brandy,  or 
Rumney  or  Rhine  wine,  and  spiced  and  pure  beer,  and  vari- 
ous kinds  of  meads.  When  they  bring  the  round  cakes  to 
the  table,  the  host's  daughters-in-law,  or  married  daughters, 
or  the  wives  of  near  relatives  come  into  the  room,  and  the 
guests  rise  and,  leaving  the  table,  go  to  the  door  and  salute 
the  women;  then  the  husbands  of  the  women  salute  them, 
and  beg  the  guests  to  kiss  their  wives  and  drink  the  wine 
they  offer.  The  guests  comply  with  their  request  and  re- 
turn to  the  table,  while  the  women  go  back  to  their  apart- 
ments. After  dinner  the  host  and  guests  drink  more  freely 
each  other's  healths,  and  drive  home  again.  The  boydrs' 
wives  dine  and  drink  in  the  same  manner  in  their  own  apart- 
ments, where  there  are  no  men  present. 

When  a  boydr  or  Near  Man  is  about  to  marry  off"  his  son, 
or  himself,  or  a  brother,  or  nephew,  or  daughter,  or  sister,  or 
niece,  he,  having  found  out  where  there  is  a  marriageable 
girl,  sends  his  friends,  men  or  women,  to  the  father  of  that 


Grig6ri  Kotoshikhin  141 

g^rl,  to  say  that  such  and  such  a  one  had  sent  them  to  in- 
quire whether  he  would  be  willing  to  give  his  daughter  or 
relative  to  him  or  his  relative,  and  what  the  girl's  dowry 
would  be  in  the  trousseau,  money,  patrimony  and  serfs.  If 
the  person  addressed  is  willing  to  give  him  his  daughter,  or 
relative,  he  replies  to  the  inquiry  that  he  intends  to  marry 
off  the  girl,  only  he  has  to  consider  the  matter  with  his  wife 
and  family,  and  that  he  will  give  a  definite  answer  on  a  cer- 
tain day ;  but  if  he  does  not  wish  to  give  him  the  girl,  know- 
ing that  he  is  a  drunkard,  or  fast,  or  has  some  other  bad 
habit,  he  will  say  at  once  that  he  will  not  give  him  the  girl, 
or  he  will  find  some  excuse  for  refusing  the  request. 

Having  taken  counsel  with  his  wife  and  family,  and  hav- 
ing decided  to  give  him  the  girl,  he  makes  a  detailed  list  of 
her  dowry,  in  money,  silver  and  other  ware,  dresses,  patri- 
mony and  serfs,  and  sends  it  to  the  people  who  had  come  to 
him  from  the  prospective  bridegroom,  and  they,  in  their  turn, 
take  it  to  the  bridegroom.  Nothing  is  told  of  the  matter  to 
the  prospective  bride,  who  remains  in  ignorance  thereof. 

The  dowry  of  the  bride  appearing  satisfactory,  the  groom 
sends  his  people  to  the  bride's  parents,  to  ask  them  to 
present  the  girl.  The  bride's  parents  reply  that  they  are 
willing  to  show  their  daughter,  only  not  to  the  prospective 
groom,  but  to  his  father,  mother,  sister  or  near  female  rela- 
tive, in  whom  the  groom  may  have  special  confidence.  On 
the  appointed  day  the  groom  sends  his  mother  or  sister  to 
inspect  the  bride;  the  bride's  parents  make  preparations  for 
that  day,  attire  their  daughter  in  a  fine  garment,  invite  their 
relatives  to  dinner,  and  seat  their  daughter  at  the  table. 

When  the  inspectress  arrives,  she  is  met  with  the  honour 
due  her,  and  is  placed  at  the  table  near  the  bride.  Sitting  at 
the  table,  the  inspectress  converses  with  the  girl  on  all  kinds 
of  subjects,  in  order  to  try  her  mind  and  manner  of  speech, 
and  closely  watches  her  face,  eyes  and  special  marks,  in 
order  to  bring  a  correct  report  to  the  bridegroom ;  having 
stayed  a  short  time,  she  returns  to  the  bridegroom.  If  the 
inspectress  takes  no  liking  to  the  bride,  having  discovered 
that  she  is  silly,  or  homely,  or  has  imperfect  eyes,  or  is  lame, 


142  The  Oldest  Period 

or  a  poor  talker,  and  so  reports  to  the  groom,  he  gives  her 
up,  and  that  is  the  last  of  it.  But  if  the  bride  has  found  fa- 
vour iu  the  inspectress's  eyes,  and  she  tells  the  groom  that 
the  girl  is  good  and  clever,  and  perfect  in  speech  and  all 
things,  the  groom  sends  his  former  friends  again  to  the  girl's 
parents,  telling  them  that  he  likes  their  daughter,  and  that 
he  wishes  to  come  to  a  parley  to  write  the  marriage  contract, 
in  order  to  marry  her  on  a  certain  date.  The  bride's  parents 
send  word  to  the  groom  through  his  trusted  people  that  he 
should  come  to  the  parley  with  a  few  of  his  friends  in  whom 
he  has  most  confidence  on  a  certain  day,  in  the  forenoon  or 
afternoon. 

On  the  appointed  day  the  groom  puts  on  his  best  clothes, 
and  drives  with  his  father,  or  near  relatives,  or  friends 
whom  he  loves  best  to  the  bride's  parents.  Upon  arrival,  the 
bride's  parents  and  her  near  relatives  meet  them  with  due 
honour,  after  which  they  go  into  the  house  and  seat  them- 
selves according  to  rank.  Having  sat  a  while,  the  groom's 
father  or  other  relative  remarks  that  they  have  come  for 
the  good  work,  as  he  has  bid  them :  the  host  answers  that  he 
is  glad  to  see  them,  and  that  he  is  ready  to  take  up  the  mat- 
ter. Then  both  sides  begin  to  discuss  all  kinds  of  marriage 
articles  and  to  set  the  day  for  the  wedding  according  to  how 
soon  they  can  get  ready  for  it,  in  a  week,  a  month,  half  a 
year,  a  year,  or  even  more.  Then  they  enter  their  names  and 
the  bride's  name  and  the  names  of  witnesses  in  the  marriage 
contract,  and  it  is  agreed  that  he  is  to  take  the  girl  on  a  cer- 
tain date,  without  fail,  and  that  the  girl  is  to  be  turned  over 
to  him  on  that  date,  without  fail ;  and  it  is  provided  in  that 
contract  that  if  the  groom  does  not  take  the  girl  on  the  ap- 
pointed day,  or  the  father  will  not  give  him  his  daughter  on 
that  day,  the  offending  party  has  to  pay  looo,  or  5000,  or 
10,000  roubles,  as  the  agreement  may  be.  Having  stayed  a 
while,  and  having  eaten  and  drunk,  they  return  home,  with- 
out having  seen  the  bride,  and  without  the  bride  having  seen 
the  groom ;  but  the  mother,  or  married  sister,  or  wife  of  some 
relative  comes  out  to  present  the  groom  with  some  embroid- 
ery from  the  bride. 


Grig6ri  Kotoshikhin  143 

If  after  that  parley  the  groom  finds  out  something  preju- 
dicial to  the  bride,  or  someone  interested  in  the  groom  tells 
him  that  she  is  deaf,  or  mute,  or  maimed,  or  has  some  other 
bad  characteristic,  and  the  groom  does  not  want  to  take  her, 
—  and  the  parents  of  the  bride  complain  about  it  to  the  Pat- 
riarch that  he  has  not  taken  the  girl  according  to  the  mar- 
riage articles,  and  does  not  want  to  take  her,  and  thus  has 
dishonoured  her;  or  the  bride's  parents,  having  found  out 
about  the  groom  that  he  is  a  drunkard,  or  diceplayer,  or 
maimed,  or  has  done  something  bad,  will  not  give  him  their 
daughter,  and  the  groom  complains  to  the  Patriarch, — the 
Patriarch  institutes  an  inquiry,  and  the  fine  is  collected  from 
the  guilty  party  according  to  the  contract,  and  is  given  to 
the  groom  or  bride,  as  the  case  may  be;  and  then  both  may 
marry  whom  they  please. 

But  if  both  parties  carry  out  their  agreement,  and  get 
ready  for  the  wedding  on  the  appointed  day,  then  the  groom 
invites  to  the  wedding  his  relatives  and  such  other  people  as 
he  likes,  to  be  his  ceremonial  guests,  in  the  same  manner 
as  I  described  before  about  the  Tsar's  wedding ' ;  on  the  part 
of  the  bride  the  guests  are  invited  in  the  same  way.    On  the 

'  '*  The  wedding  ceremony  is  as  follows :  on  the  Tsar's  side  the  first 
order  is  the  father  and  mother,  or  those  who  are  in  place  of  his  par- 
ents ;  the  second  order,  the  travellers, — the  chief  priest  with  the  cross, 
the  thousand-man,  who  is  a  great  personage  in  that  procession,  and 
then  the  Tsar  :  eight  boydrs.  The  duties  of  the  travellers  are  as  fol- 
lows: they  stay  with  the  Tsar  and  Tsaritsa  at  the  crowning  in 
church,  and  at  the  table  occupy  higher  places  than  the  others ;  the 
friends  (drfizhka),  whose  duty  it  is  to  call  the  guests  to  the  wedding, 
to  make  speeches  at  the  wedding  in  the  name  of  the  thousand-man 
and  Tsar,  and  to  carry  presents ;  the  bride^ smaids  (svdkha)  whose 
duty  it  is  to  watch  the  Tsaritsa,  to  dress  her  and  undress  her ;  the 
candleholder,  who  holds  the  candle  when  they  get  the  Tsaritsa  ready 
for  the  crowning  ;  the  breadholders,  who  carry  the  bread  on  litters  to 
and  from  church  (these  litters  are  covered  with  gold  velvet  and  em- 
broidered cloth  and  sable  furs  ;  the  equerry  with  his  suite.  The  third 
order  is  the  sitting  boydrs,  twelve  men  and  twelve  women,  who  sit  as 
guests  at  the  tables,  with  the  Tsar's  parents,  but  do  not  go  to  church 
with  the  Tsar.  The  fourth  order  is  of  the  court,  who  attend  to  the 
food  and  drink." 


144  The  Oldest  Period 

day  of  the  wedding  tables  are  set  at  the  houses  of  the  groom 
and  bride,  and  the  word  being  given  the  groom  that  it  is 
time  to  fetch  the  bride,  they  all  set  out  according  to  the 
ceremonial  rank:  First  the  bread-men  carry  bread  on  a  tray, 
then,  if  it  be  summer,  the  priest  with  the  cross  rides  on 
horseback,  but  in  winter  in  a  sleigh;  then  follow  the  boydrs, 
the  thousand-man,  and  the  groom. 

Having  reached  the  court  of  the  bride's  house,  they  enter 
the  hall  in  ceremonial  order,  and  the  bride's  father  and  his 
guests  meet  them  with  due  honour,  and  the  order  of  the 
wedding  is  the  same  as  described  in  the  Tsar's  wedding. 
When  the  time  arrives  to  drive  to  church  to  perform  the 
marriage,  the  bride' smaids  ask  her  parents  to  give  the 
groom  and  bride  their  blessing  for  the  marriage.  They  bless 
them  with  words,  but  before  leaving  bless  them  with  a  holy 
image,  and,  taking  their  daughter's  hand,  give  her  to  the 
groom. 

Then  the  ceremonial  guests,  the  priest,  and  the  groom 
with  his  bride,  whose  hand  he  is  holding,  go  out  of  the  hall, 
and  her  parents  and  their  guests  accompany  them  to  the 
court ;  the  groom  places  the  bride  in  a  kolymdga  or  kaptdna, 
mounts  a  horse,  or  seats  himself  in  a  sleigh;  the  ceremonial 
guests  do  likewise,  and  all  drive  to  the  church  where  they 
are  to  be  married.  The  bride's  parents  and  their  guests  re- 
turn to  the  hall,  where  they  eat  and  drink  until  news  is 
brought  from  the  groom;  the  bride  is  accompanied  only  by 
her  own  and  the  bridegroom's  go-betweens.  The  two  hav- 
ing been  united,  the  whole  troop  drives  to  the  groom's  house, 
and  news  is  sent  to  the  bride's  father  that  they  have  been 
propitiously  married.  When  they  arrive  at  the  gloom's 
court,  the  groom's  parents  and  their  guests  meet  them,  and 
the  parents,  or  those  who  are  in  their  stead,  bless  them  with 
the  images,  and  offer  them  bread  and  salt,  and  then  all  seat 
themselves  at  the  table  and  begin  to  eat,  according  to  the 
ceremony ;  and  then  the  bride  is  unveiled. 

The  next  morning  the  groom  drives  out  with  the  bride' s- 
maid  to  call  the  guests,  those  of  his  and  the  bride's,  to  dinner. 
When  he  comes  to  the  bride's  parents,  he  thanks  them  for 


Grig6ri  Kotoshikhin  145 

their  having  well  brought  up  their  daughter,  and  for  having 
given  her  to  him  in  perfect  health;  after  having  made  the 
round  to  all  the  guests,  he  returns  home.  When  all  the 
guests  have  arrived,  the  bride  offers  gifts  to  all  the  cere- 
monial guests.  Before  dinner  the  groom  goes  with  all  the 
company  to  the  palace  to  make  his  obeisance  to  the  Tsar. 
Having  arrived  in  the  presence  of  the  Tsar,  all  make  a  low 
obeisance,  and  the  Tsar,  without  taking  off  his  cap,  asks  the 
married  couple's  health.  The  groom  bows  to  the  ground, 
and  then  the  Tsar  congratulates  those  who  are  united  in 
legitimate  wedlock,  and  blesses  the  married  pair  with  images, 
and  he  presents  them  with  forty  sables,  and  for  their  gar- 
ments a  bolt  of  velvet,  and  atlas,  and  gold-coloured  silk,  and 
calamanco,  and  simple  taffeta,  and  a  silver  vessel,  a  pound 
and  a  half  to  two  pounds  in  weight,  to  each  of  them ;  but  the 
bride  is  not  present  at  the  audience.  Then  the  Tsar  offers 
the  thousand-man,  and  bridegroom,  and  the  ceremonial 
guests  a  cup  of  Rumney  wine,  and  then  a  pitcher  of  cherry 
wine,  and  after  they  have  emptied  their  wine  the  Tsar 
dismisses  them. 

After  arriving  home,  they  begin  to  eat  and  drink,  and 
after  the  dinner  the  parents  and  guests  bless  the  married 
couple  with  images  and  make  them  all  kinds  of  presents,  and 
after  dinner  the  guests  drive  home.  On  the  third  day,  the 
bride  and  groom  and  the  guests  go  to  dinner  to  the  bride's 
parents,  with  all  their  guests,  and  after  the  dinner  the 
bride's  parents  and  their  guests  make  presents  to  the  married 
couple,  and  they  drive  home;  and  that  is  the  end  of  the 
festivity. 

During  the  time  that  the  groom  is  in  the  presence  of  the 
Tsar,  the  bride  sends  in  her  name  presents  to  the  Tsaritsa 
and  Tsar^vnas,  tidies  of  taffeta,  worked  with  gold  and  silver 
and  pearls;  the  Tsaritsa  and  Tsar6vnas  accept  these  gifts, 
and  send  to  inquire  about  the  bride's  health. 

During  all  the  wedding  festivities,  no  women  are  present, 
and  there  is  no  music,  except  blowing  of  horns  and  beating 
of  drums. 

The  proceeding  is  the  same  when  a  widowed  daughter,  or 

VOL.  I. — 10. 


146  The  Oldest  Period 

sister,  or  niece  is  married  off :  the  ceremonial  and  the  festivity 
are  the  same. 

In  the  beginning  of  the  festivity,  the  priest  who  is  to 
marry  the  pair  receives  from  the  Patriarch  and  the  authori- 
ties a  permit,  with  the  seal  attached  to  it,  to  marry  them, 
having  first  ascertained  that  the  bride  and  groom  are  not  re- 
lated by  sponsorship,  nor  by  the  ties  of  consanguinity  in  the 
sixth  and  seventh  generation,  nor  that  he  is  the  husband  of 
a  fourth  wife,  nor  she  the  wife  of  a  fourth  husband;  but  if 
he  discover  that  they  are  related  by  sponsorship,  and  so 
forth,  he  is  not  allowed  to  marry  them.  Should  the  priest 
permit  such  an  unlawful  marriage  to  take  place,  with  his 
knowledge  or  without  his  knowledge,  he  would  be  dis- 
charged from  his  priesthood  and,  if  he  was  knowingly 
guilty,  he  has  to  pay  a  big  fine,  and  the  authorities  lock 
him  up  for  a  year;  but  the  married  pair  is  divorced,  without 
being  fined,  except  the  sin  which  they  have  incurred,  and  if 
they  have  not  been  previously  married  three  times,  they 
may  marr>'  again. 

If  a  widower  wants  to  marry  a  maiden,  the  ceremonial  at  the 
wedding  is  the  same,  but  during  the  wreathing  in  church 
the  wreath  is  placed  on  the  groom's  right  shoulder,  whereas 
the  bride  wears  her  wreath  upon  her  head;  if  a  widower 
for  the  third  time  marries  a  maiden,  the  ceremonial  is  the 
same,  but  the  wreath  is  placed  on  the  groom's  left  shoulder, 
and  the  bride  wears  hers  upon  her  head.  The  same  is  done 
when  a  widow  marries  for  the  second  or  third  time.  But 
when  a  widower  marries  for  the  second  or  third  time  a 
widow,  then  there  is  no  wreathing,  and  only  a  prayer  is  said 
instead  of  the  wreathing,  and  the  wedding  ceremonial  is 
different  from  the  one  mentioned  above. 

The  manner  of  the  parley,  marriage  and  ceremonial  wed- 
ding is  the  same  with  the  lower  orders  of  the  nobility  as  de- 
scribed above,  and  the  wedding  is  as  sumptuous  as  they  can 
afford  to  make  it,  but  they  do  not  call  upon  the  Tsar,  except 
those  of  his  retinue. 

Among  the  merchants  and  peasants  the  parley  and  the 
ceremonial  are  exactly  the  same,  but  they  differ  in  their 


Grigori  Kotoshikhin  147 

acts  and  dresses  from  the  nobility,  each  according  to  his 
means. 

It  sometimes  happens  that  a  father  or  mother  has  two  or 
three  daughters,  where  the  eldest  daughter  is  maimed,  being 
blind,  or  lame,  or  deaf,  or  mute,  while  the  other  sisters  are 
perfect  in  shape  and  beauty  and  speech.  When  a  man  be- 
gins to  sue  for  their  daughter,  and  he  sends  his  mother,  or 
sister,  or  someone  else  in  whom  he  has  confidence  to  inspect 
her,  the  parents  sometimes  substitute  the  second  or  third 
daughter  for  their  maimed  sister,  giving  her  the  name  of  the 
latter,  so  that  the  inspectress,  not  knowing  the  deceit,  takes 
a  liking  to  the  girl  and  reports  to  the  groom  that  she  is  a 
proper  person  to  marry.  Then  the  groom,  depending  upon 
her  words,  has  a  parley  with  the  girl's  parents,  that  he  is  to 
marry  her  upon  an  appointed  day,  and  that  the  parents  are 
to  give  her  to  him  upon  the  appointed  day,  and  the  fine  is 
set  so  high  that  the  guilty  party  is  not  able  to  pay  it. 
"When  the  wedding  takes  place,  the  parents  turn  over  to 
him  the  maimed  daughter,  whose  name  is  given  in  the  arti- 
cles of  marriage,  but  who  is  not  the  one  the  inspectresses 
had  seen.  But  the  groom  cannot  discover  on  the  wedding 
day  that  she  is  blind,  or  disfigured,  or  has  some  other  de- 
fect, or  that  she  is  deaf  or  mute,  for  at  the  wedding  she  is 
veiled  and  does  not  say  a  word,  nor  can  he  know  whether 
she  is  lame,  because  her  bride' smaids  lead  her  under  her 
arms. 

But  in  that  case  the  man  who  has  been  deceived  complains 
to  the  Patriarch  and  authorities,  and  these  take  the  articles 
of  marriage  and  institute  an  inquiry  among  the  neighbours 
and  housefolk,  each  one  individually,  whether  the  person  he 
had  married  is  the  one  indicated  by  name  in  the  marriage  ar- 
ticles. If  so,  the  articles  are  valid,  and  no  faith  is  to  be  put 
in  his  contention,  on  the  ground  that  it  was  his  business  to 
be  sure  whom  he  was  going  to  marry.  But  if  the  neigh- 
bours and  housefolk  depose  that  the  bride  is  not  the  same  as 
mentioned  by  name  in  the  articles,  the  married  pair  is  di- 
vorced, and  the  parents  have  to  pay  a  large  fine  and  dam- 
ages to  the  groom,  and  besides  the  father  is  beaten  with  the 


148  The  Oldest  Period 

knout,  or  his  punishment  is  even  more  severe,  according  to 
the  Tsar's  will. 

The  same  punishment  is  meted  out  to  the  man  who  pre- 
sents his  serving  maid  or  a  widow  in  place  of  his  unmarried 
daughter,  by  giving  her  another  name  and  dressing  her  up 
so  as  to  look  like  his  daughter,  or  when  his  daughter  is  of 
short  stature  and  they  place  her  on  a  high  chair  in  such  a 
way  that  her  defect  is  not  noticeable. 

When  parents  have  maimed  or  old  daughters,  and  no  one 
wants  to  marry  them,  they  are  sent  to  a  monastery  to  be 
shorn  nuns. 

When  a  man  wants  to  inspect  the  bride  himself,  and  the 
parents  grant  the  request,  knowing  that  she  is  fair  and  that 
they  need  not  be  ashamed  of  her,  but  the  groom,  having 
taken  no  liking  to  her,  decries  her  with  damaging  and  in- 
jurious words,  and  thus  keeps  other  suitors  away  from  her, 
— and  the  bride's  parents  complain  to  the  Patriarch  or  au- 
thorities: these  institute  an  inquiry,  and  having  found  the 
man  guilty,  marry  him  to  the  g^rl  by  force;  but  if  he  has 
married  another  girl  before  the  complaint  has  been  entered, 
the  girl's  disgrace  is  taken  from  her  by  an  ukase. 

When  a  man  marries  oflFhis  daughter  or  sister,  and  gives 
her  a  large  dowry  in  serfs  and  patrimony,  and  that  daughter 
or  sister,  having  borne  no  children,  or  having  borne  some 
who  have  all  died,  dies  herself, —  the  dowry  is  all  taken  from 
her  husband  and  is  turned  over  to  those  who  had  married 
her  oflF.  But  if  she  leaves  a  son  or  daughter,  the  dowry  is, 
for  the  sake  of  her  child,  not  taken  from  her  husband. 

Gentle  reader!  Wonder  not,  it  is  nothing  but  the  truth 
when  I  say  that  nowhere  in  the  whole  world  is  there  such 
deception  practised  with  marriageable  girls  as  in  the  kingdom 
of  Muscovy;  there  does  not  exist  there  the  custom,  as  in 
other  countries,  for  the  suitor  to  see  and  sue  for  the  bride 
himself. 

The  boydrs  and  Near  People  have  in  their  houses  loo, 
or  200,  or  300,  or  500,  or  1000  servants,  male  and  female,  ac- 
cording to  their  dignity  and  possessions.  These  servants 
receive  a  yearly  salary,  if  they  are  married,  2,  3,  5  or  10 


Sime6n  P6lotski  149 

roubles,  according  to  their  services,  and  their  wearing  ap- 
parel, and  a  monthly  allowance  of  bread  and  victuals;  they 
live  in  their  own  rooms  in  the  court  of  the  boydr's  house. 
The  best  of  these  married  servants  are  sent  out  by  the  boydrs 
every  year,  by  rotation,  to  their  estates  and  villages,  with 
the  order  to  collect  from  their  peasants  the  taxes  and  rents. 
The  unmarried  older  servants  receive  some  small  wages,  but 
the  younger  ones  receive  nothing ;  all  the  unmarried  servants 
get  their  wearing  apparel,  hats,  shirts  and  boots;  the  older 
of  these  servants  live  in  the  farther  lower  apartments,  and 
receive  their  food  and  drink  from  the  kitchen ;  on  holidays 
they  receive  two  cups  of  brandy  each.  The  female  servants 
who  are  widows  remain  living  in  the  houses  of  their  hus- 
bands, and  they  receive  a  yearly  wage  and  a  monthly  allow- 
ance of  food;  other  widows  and  girls  stay  in  the  rooms  of  the 
boydrs'  wives  and  daughters,  and  they  receive  their  wearing 
apparel,  and  their  food  from  the  boydr's  kitchen. 

When  these  girls  are  grown  up,  the  boydrs  marry  them, 
and  also  the  widows,  to  some  one  of  their  servants  to  whom 
they  have  taken  a  liking,  but  sometimes  by  force.  The 
wedding  takes  place  in  the  boydr's  hall,  according  to  the 
rank  of  the  marrying  parties;  the  food  and  festive  dresses 
are  furnished  by  the  boy  dr.  The  girls  are  never  married  to 
any  person  outside  the  boydr's  court,  because  both  male  and 
female  servants  are  his  perpetual  serfs.  In  the  boydr's  house 
there  is  an  oflSce  for  all  domestic  affairs,  where  an  account  is 
kept  of  income  and  expenses,  and  all  the  affairs  of  the  serv- 
ants and  peasants  are  investigated  and  settled. 

Sime6n  P61otski.    (1629-1680.) 

Sime6ti,  whose  father's  name  was  Emelydn  Petr6vski-Sitnidtiovich, 
studied  at  Kiev,  where  the  Western  scholasticism  had  found  entrance 
through  the  Polish,  and  where  the  Orthodox  Church  stood  in  less 
violent  opposition  to  the  Catholic  and  Protestant  Churches  and  the 
sacred  and  profane  learning  which  they  disseminated.  Sime6n  took 
the  tonsure  as  a  monk  in  P61otsk,  and  developed  there  his  early 
pedagogical  activity, — hence  his  name  P61otski.  When  P61otsk  was 
occupied  by  the  Poles,  Sime6n  went  to  Moscow,  where  he  attracted 
the  attention  of  Alexis  Mikhdylovich  by  his  verses  upon  the  birth 
of  the  Tsar^vich  Fe6dor.      He  became  the  first  Court  poet,  was 


I50  The  Oldest  Period 

employed  as  instructor  of  Alexis,  Fe6dor,  and,  later,  Peter  himself, 
and  had  great  influence  on  the  education  of  their  sister  Sophia.  He 
was  also  appointed  a  teacher  of  Latin  in  the  School  of  the  Redeemer, 
where  his  first  pupils  were  scribes  of  the  Secret  Department,  and 
where  later  a  new  generation  of  men,  among  them  Lomondsov,  re- 
ceived their  earliest  instruction  in  Western  culture.  Sime6n  devel- 
oped an  untiring  activity  in  literature,  standing  alone  in  his  efforts  to 
engrafl  an  antiquated  scholasticism  on  the  Russian  orthodoxy.  He 
was  a  very  learned  man,  but,  like  his  spiritual  peer  Tredyak6vski  of 
the  next  century,  devoid  of  poetic  genius.  His  poetry,  collected  in 
two  large  works.  The  Flowery  Pleasaunce  and  the  Rhythmologion,  is 
merely  a  paraphrase  of  foreign  models  in  forced  rhymes  and  a  sylla- 
bic versification  which  is  entirely  unsuited  to  the  Russian  language. 
He  wrote  two  plays,  in  the  manner  of  the  old  Mysteries,  which  were 
among  the  first  to  be  gfiven  at  the  newly  established  Court  theatre. 
He  translated  much  from  the  Latin,  and  composed  more  than  two 
hundred  sermons.  In  spite  of  the  mediocrity  of  his  literary  efforts, 
his  influence  on  the  next  generation  was  great ;  Lomon6sov  received 
his  first  impulse  for  writing  verses  from  a  perusal  of  P61otski's  works. 

ON  THE  BIRTH  OF  PETER  THE  GREAT 

A  gpreat  gladness  the  month  of  May  has  brought  us,  for 
the  Tsardvich  Peter  was  born  in  it.  But  yesterday  the 
famous  Constantinople  was  captured  by  the  Turks; — to-day 
the  most  glorious  salvation  has  appeared.  The  conqueror 
has  come,  and  he  will  avenge  the  insult,  and  will  free  the 
ruling  city.  O  Constantine's  city,  mightily  rejoice!  And 
you,  holy  church  of  Sophia,  rejoice!  An  orthodox  Tsar6- 
vich  was  born  to  us  to-day,  a  Grand  Prince  of  Moscow, 
Peter  Aleksy6evich :  he  will  endeavour  to  adorn  you  in 
honour,  and  to  subdue  the  Moslem  abomination.  And  you, 
ruling  city  of  Moscow,  rejoice!  For  a  great  joy  has  taken 
up  its  abode  within  you.  He  strengthened  your  stone-walls 
that  surround  you,  porphyrogenite,  God-sent  son  of  the 
Tsar!  Peter  is  his  name, — a  firm  rock,'  and  being  born  to 
strengthen  the  gates  he  will  be  brave  and  terrible  to  the 
enemy  that  opposes  him.  By  a  wondrous  name  a  rock  of 
faith,  an  adornment  and  joy  to  the  Tsar  is  born,  and  an 
eternal  glory  to  his  parents. 

The  younger  Joseph  was  beloved  by  his  father,  and  thus 
'  That  is,  deriving  Peter  from  Greek  itirpay  rock. 


Sime6n  P61otski  151 

is  the  younger  Tsar^vich  beloved  by  his  father.  The 
youngest  Benjamin  was  loved  by  his  brothers;  even  thus  the 
youngest  Peter  is  beloved  by  his  two  brothers.  Peter  is  a 
rock  of  fortune  and  a  precious  stone,  endowed  by  God  for  the 
confirmation  of  the  Church.  You,  planet  Ares  and  Zeus,  re- 
joice, for  the  Tsardvich  was  born  under  your  lustre!  The 
Tsar^vich  was  born  in  the  quadrant  aspect,  and  he  has  come 
to  rule  in  his  house.  He  announces  the  four-cornered  token, 
as  if  to  rule  the  four  corners  of  the  earth.  From  God  this 
being  was  given  to  this  planet,  for  this  planet  was  found  to 
be  the  best  for  his  achievements:  bravery,  wealth  and 
glory  reside  upon  it,  to  place  a  wreath  upon  the  head  of  the 
Tsar. 

Rejoice  to-day,  orthodox  Tsar!  A  glorious  son  has  been 
born  to  you !  May  your  years  and  the  years  of  the  Tsaritsa 
be  many,  and  may  you  and  your  children  prosper,  and  the 
new-born  Tsar6vich,  Peter  Aleksy6evich,  even  now  glorious! 
May  you  vanquish  all  foreign  mights,  and  unite  all  lands 
and  kingdoms  under  your  rule!  May  God  grant  you  to  see 
the  third  and  fourth  generation,  and  your  throne  for  ever 
unshaken ! 

AN  EVIL  THOUGHT 

A  man  found  a  snake  stiff  with  cold  and  cast  upon  the 
path  into  the  snow;  he  took  pity  on  it,  and  placed  it  in  his 
bosom.  When  it  was  revived,  it  began  to  creep,  then  bit 
the  senseless  man  that  had  warmed  it.  Even  thus  it  happens 
to  him  who  harbours  evil  thoughts:  they  soon  come  to  life, 
and  give  mortal  stings  to  the  thinker. 

THE  MAGNET 

Iron  with  a  magnet  rubbed  assumes  the  power  of  a  mag- 
net: it  then  attracts  needles,  one  after  another,  as  long  as  its 
power  lasts,  which  God  has  placed  in  the  ore.  Even  so  the 
righteous  do  in  this  world:  the  wisdom  which  is  given 
them  they  give  to  others,  that  having  been  made  wise  they 
may  turn  from  the  world,  and  may  turn  their  hearts  to  the 
living  God,  and  may  lead  each  other  into  the  heavenly  re- 
gion prepared  by  God  for  those  who  serve  Him  faithfully. 


152  The  Oldest  Period 

The  Story  of  Misery  Luckless-Plight,  How  That 
Misery  Luckless-Plight  Caused  a  Youth  to 
Turn  Monk.     (XVIL  or  XVIIL  century.) 

This  beautiful  story  was  found  in  a  manuscript  collection  of  the 
seventeenth  and  eighteenth  centuries.  It  consists  of  two  parts :  the 
first  is  an  apocryphal  account  of  the  fall  of  man,  with  the  customary 
substitution  of  the  grapevine  for  the  apple-tree,  in  order  to  inculcate 
abstinence  from  the  bowl ;  the  second  part,  relating  the  pursuit  of 
the  young  man  by  the  demon  Misery  Luckless-Plight,  bears  every 
evidence  of  popular  origin.  The  dramatic  element  of  the  story,  the 
symbolic  account  of  the  pursuit  in  the  shape  of  animals,  the  parallel- 
ism of  phrases^  are  all  devices  which  recur  in  the  popular  tales,  from 
the  Word  of  Igor's  Armament  to  the  present  time. 

By  the  will  of  the  Ivord  our  God  and  Saviour,  Jesus  Christ, 
who  encompasses  all,  from  the  beginning  of  the  human  race. 

In  the  beginning  of  this  perishable  world,  God  created 
heaven  and  earth,  God  created  Adam  and  Eve.  He  ordered 
them  to  live  in  holy  paradise,  and  gave  them  this  divine 
command :  He  told  them  not  to  eat  the  fruit  of  the  grapevine, 
from  the  great  tree  of  Eden.  But  the  human  heart  is  un- 
thinking and  irresistible,  and  Adam  and  Eve  were  tempted. 
They  forgot  God's  command,  ate  of  the  fruit  of  the  grape- 
vine, from  the  great  and  wonderful  tree,  and  for  that  great 
transgression  of  theirs  God  was  wroth  with  Adam  and  Eve 
and  drove  them  out  of  the  holy  Edenic  paradise.  He  settled 
them  upon  the  low  earth,  blessed  them  to  grow  and  multiply, 
and  told  them  to  appease  their  hunger  through  their  own 
labour  from  the  fruits  upon  earth.  .  .  .  God  gave  them 
this  commandment:  there  should  be  marriages,  for  the 
propagation  of  the  race  of  men  and  for  beloved  children. 

But  the  human  race  was  evil:  from  the  very  start  it  was 
not  submissive,  looked  with  disdain  at  the  father's  instruc- 
tion, did  not  obey  the  mother,  was  untrue  to  the  advice  of 
friends.  Then  there  came  a  weak  and  wretched  race  that 
turned  to  reckless  deeds,  and  began  to  live  in  turmoil  and 
wrong,  and  discarded  humility  of  spirit.  And  God  grew 
wroth  with  them,  and  sent  great  calamities  down  upon  them, 
and  great  misery,  and  immeasiurable  shame,  evil  plight, 


Misery  Luckless-Plight  153 

fiendish  visitations,  a  wretched  nakedness,  and  endless  pov- 
erty and  extreme  want,  in  order  to  humble  us,  to  punish  us, 
to  lead  us  on  the  path  of  salvation.  Such  is  the  race  of  man 
from  its  father  and  mother. 


The  youth  had  reached  the  age  of  discretion  and  absence 
of  wantonness.  His  father  and  mother  loved  him  much,  and 
they  began  to  teach  and  instruct  him,  to  prepare  him  for 
good  deeds: 

"Dear  child  of  ours,  listen  to  your  parents*  words  of  in- 
struction, listen  to  their  saws,  the  good  and  cunning  and 
wise,  and  you  will  not  be  in  want,  you  will  not  be  in  great 
poverty.  Go  not,  child,  to  feasts  and  celebrations;  do  not 
seat  yourself  on  a  high  place;  drink  not  two  beakers  at 
once;  be  not  tempted  by  good,  fair  maidens,  fathers'  daugh- 
ters. Lie  not  down  in  the  wilderness.  Fear  not  the  wise 
man,  fear  the  fool,  lest  the  fools  lay  hands  on  you  and  take 
off  your  costly  garments,  and  cause  you  great  shame  and 
aggravation,  and  expose  you  to  the  scorn  and  empty  prattle 
of  men.  Go  not,  my  child,  to  the  dice-players  and  innkeepers, 
and  keep  no  company  with  the  frequenters  of  the  tavern. 
Make  no  friends  with  the  foolish  and  simple.  Steal  not, 
rob  not,  nor  deceive,  nor  tell  a  lie,  nor  do  wrong.  Be  not 
tempted  by  gold  and  silver;  collect  not  unrighteous  wealth. 
Be  not  a  witness  to  false  swearing,  and  think  no  evil  of 
father  and  mother,  or  any  other  man, — that  God  may  pro- 
tect you  from  all  evil.  Dishonour  not,  child,  the  rich  and  the 
poor,  but  regard  them  all  alike.  Keep  company  with  the 
wise  and  sensible,  and  make  friends  with  friends  you  may 
rely  upon,  who  will  not  deliver  you  to  evil," 

The  youth  was  then  young  and  foolish,  not  in  his  full 
senses  and  imperfect  in  mind :  he  was  ashamed  to  submit  to 
his  father  and  bow  before  his  mother,  but  wanted  to  live  as 
he  listed.  If  the  youth  earned  fifty  roubles,  he  found  easily 
fifty  friends,  and  his  honour  flowed  like  a  river:  the  youth 
gained  many  friends  for  himself,  and  they  accounted  them- 
selves of  his  race. 


154  The  Oldest  Period 

And  the  youth  had  a  trusted  friend :  he  named  himself  his 
plighted  brother,  and  he  tempted  hira  with  tempting  words; 
he  called  him  to  the  tavern  yard,  led  him  into  the  hall  of  the 
inn,  brought  him  a  cup  of  green  wine,  handed  him  a  beaker 
of  heady  beer,  and  spoke  to  him  the  following  words: 

"Drink,  plighted  brother  of  mine,  to  your  joy,  and  happi- 
ness, and  health.  Empty  the  cup  of  green  wine,  and  follow 
it  by  a  glass  of  sweet  mead.  And  if  you  drink,  brother, 
until  you  be  drunk,  lie  down  to  sleep  where  you  have  drunk, 
— depend  upon  me,  your  plighted  brother.  I  shall  sit  down 
and  keep  watch  over  you:  at  your  head,  dear  friend,  I  shall 
place  a  beaker  of  sweet  Ishem  wine,  by  your  side  I  shall 
place  green  wine,  and  near  you  I  shall  place  heady  beer. 
I  shall  watch  well  over  you,  dear  friend,  and  shall  take  you 
back  to  your  father  and  mother." 

At  that  time  the  youth  depended  on  his  plighted  brother; 
he  did  not  wish  to  disobey  him.  He  settled  himself  near  the 
heady  drinks,  and  emptied  a  cup  of  green  wine,  followed 
it  by  a  glass  of  sweet  mead,  and  he  drank  also  the  heady 
beer.  He  drank  until  he  lost  his  senses,  and  where  he  had 
drunk,  there  he  fell  asleep:  he  depended  upon  his  plighted 
brother. 

The  day  was  inclining  towards  night,  and  the  sun  was  in 
the  west,  when  the  youth  awoke  from  his  sleep.  The  youth 
looked  all  around  him:  all  the  costly  garments  had  been 
taken  away  from  him,  his  shoes  and  stockings  were  all  gone, 
his  shirt  even  was  taken  from  him,  and  all  his  property  was 
stolen.  A  brick  was  lying  under  his  unruly  head;  he  was 
covered  with  a  tavern  sackcloth,  and  at  his  feet  lay  ragged 
sandals;  at  his  head  his  dear  friend  was  no  more.  And  the 
youth  stood  up  on  his  bare  feet,  and  began  to  clothe  himself: 
he  put  on  the  ragged  sandals,  covered  himself  with  the 
tavern  sackcloth,  covered  his  white  body,  and  washed  his 
white  face.  Sorrow  entered  the  youth's  heart,  and  he  spoke 
the  following  words: 

' '  Though  God  has  granted  me  a  good  life,  I  have  now  no- 
thing to  eat  or  drink !  Since  my  money  is  gone,  even  the 
last  half -farthing,  I  have  not  a  friend,  not  even  half  a  friend. 


Misery  Luckless-Plight  155 

They  no  longer  account  themselves  of  my  race,  all  my  friends 
have  disappeared ! ' ' 

The  youth  felt  ashamed  to  show  himself  before  father  and 
mother,  and  his  race  and  family,  and  to  his  former  friends. 
He  went  into  a  strange,  distant,  unknown  land.  He  found  a 
court,  a  town  in  size,  and  a  house  in  that  court,  a  palace  in 
height.  In  that  house  was  given  a  splendid  feast:  the 
guests  drank,  ate  and  made  merr>'.  The  youth  came  to  the 
splendid  feast,  made  the  sign  of  the  cross  over  his  white 
face,  bowed  before  the  wonderful  images,  made  his  obeisance 
to  the  good  people  on  all  four  sides.  And  when  the  good 
people  saw  the  youth,  how  well  he  made  the  sign  of  the 
cross,  how  he  acted  according  to  the  written  rule,  they  took 
him  by  the  hands,  seated  him  at  the  oaken  table,  not  in  a 
great  place,  nor  in  a  small,  they  seated  him  in  a  middle 
place,  where  the  younger  guests  are  seated.  And  the  feast 
was  a  merry  one,  and  all  the  guests  at  the  feast  were  drunk 
and  merry  and  boastful;  but  the  youth  sat,  not  merry  at 
all,  gloomy,  sorrowful,  joyless,  and  neither  ate,  nor  drank, 
nor  made  merry,  nor  boasted  of  anything  at  the  feast.  Said 
the  good  people  to  the  youth : 

"  Wherefore,  O  good  youth,  do  you  sit,  not  merry  at  the 
feast,  gloomy,  sorrowful,  joyless  ;  you  neither  drink,  nor 
make  merry,  nor  boast  of  anything  at  the  feast  ?  Or  has  the 
cup  of  green  wine  not  reached  you,  or  is  not  your  seat  ac- 
cording to  your  father's  worth  ?  Or  have  small  children  in- 
sulted you  ?  Or  foolish  and  unwise  people  made  light  of 
you,  youth  ?    Or  are  our  children  not  kind  to  you  ?  ' ' 

But  the  good  youth  remained  sitting  and  said: 

"Gentlemen  and  good  people!  I  will  tell  you  of  my 
great  misfortune,  of  my  disobedience  to  my  parents,  of  my 
drinking  at  the  inn  the  cup  of  mead,  the  tempting  drinking  of 
heady  wine.  When  I  took  to  drinking  the  heady  wine,  I  dis- 
obeyed both  father  and  mother:  their  blessing  departed  from 
me ;  the  I^ord  grew  wroth  with  me,  and  to  my  poverty  were 
added  many  great  and  incurable  sorrows  and  sadness  with- 
out comfort,  want,  and  misery,  and  extreme  wretchedness. 
Want  has  tamed  my  flowery  speech ;  sadness  has  dried  up 


156  The  Oldest  Period 

my  white  body.  For  this  my  heart  is  not  merry,  and  my 
white  face  is  sad,  and  my  eyes  dim.  I  have  lost  my  paternal 
honour,  and  my  youthful  valour  has  left  me.  Gentlemen 
and  good  people!  Tell  me  and  teach  me  how  to  live  in  a 
strange  land,  among  strange  people,  and  how  to  find  dear 
friends!" 

Said  the  good  people  to  the  youth : 

"  You  are  a  sensible  youth !  Be  not  haughty  in  a  strange 
land:  submit  to  friend  and  foe,  bow  to  old  and  young,  tell 
not  of  the  aflfairs  of  others,  neither  what  you  hear,  nor  see. 
Flatter  not  friends  nor  enemies ;  have  no  tortuous  fits,  nor 
bend  as  a  cunning  snake;  be  humble  before  all,  but  withal 
keep  to  truth  and  right, — and  you  will  have  great  honour  and 
glory.  When  people  will  find  you  out,  they  will  respect  and 
honour  you  for  your  great  truth,  your  humility  and  wisdom; 
— and  you  will  have  dear  friends,  who  will  call  themselves 
your  plighted  brothers." 

And  the  youth  went  hence  into  a  strange  land,  and  began 
to  live  wisely,  and  through  his  great  wisdom  acquired  greater 
wealth  than  before.  He  looked  out  for  a  bride  according  ta 
custom,  for  he  wished  to  marry.  The  youth  prepared  a 
splendid  feast,  according  to  his  father's  worth  and  as  best  he 
knew,  and  invited  the  honoured  guests  and  friends.  But 
through  his  own  sin,  by  God's  will  and  the  devil's  tempta- 
tion, he  boasted  before  his  honoured  guests  and  friends  and 
plighted  brothers.  A  boastful  word  is  always  rotten,  and 
self-praise  brings  the  destruction  of  man:  "  I,  the  youths 
have  gained  more  possessions  than  ever ! ' ' 

Misery  Luckless-Plight  heard  the  young  man's  boasting, 
and  spoke  the  following  words: 

"  Young  man,  boast  not  of  your  fortune,  praise  not  your 
wealth !  I,  Misery,  have  known  people  who  were  wiser  and 
richer  than  you,  but  I,  Misery,  have  outwitted  them.  When 
a  great  misfortune  befell  them,  they  struggled  with  me  unto 
their  death;  they  were  worsted  by  theirlucklessplight, — could 
not  get  away  from  me,  Misery,  until  they  took  their  abode  in 
the  grave,  and  I  covered  them  for  ever  with  the  earth.  Only 
then  they  were  rid  of  nakedness,  and  I,  Misery,  left  them. 


Misery  Luckless-Plight  157 

though  luckless  plight  remained  upon  their  grave!"  And 
again  it  cawed  ominously:  "  I,  Misery,  attached  myself  to 
others,  for  I,  Misery  L<uckless-Plight,  cannot  live  empty- 
handed:  I,  Misery,  wish  to  live  among  people,  from  whom 
I  cannot  be  driven  away  with  a  whip;  but  my  chief  seat  and 
paternal  home  is  among  the  carousers!  " 

Spoke  grey  Misery  the  miserable : 

"  How  am  I  to  get  at  the  youth  ?"  and  evil  Misery  de- 
vised cunningly  to  appear  to  the  youth  in  his  dream : 

"  Young  man,  renounce  your  beloved  bride,  for  you 
will  be  poisoned  by  your  bride;  you  will  be  strangled  by 
that  woman;  you  will  be  killed  for  your  gold  and  silver! 
Go,  young  man,  to  the  Tsar's  tavern:  save  nothing,  but 
spend  all  your  wealth  in  drink ;  doff  your  costly  dress,  put 
on  the  tavern  sackcloth.  In  the  tavern  Misery  will  remain, 
and  evil  Luckless-Plight  will  stay, — for  Misery  will  not 
gallop  after  a  naked  one,  nor  will  anyone  annoy  a  naked 
man,  nor  has  assault  any  terrors  for  a  bare- footed  man.'" 

The  young  man  did  not  believe  his  dream,  but  evil  Misery 
again  devised  a  plan,  and  stuck  once  more  to  the  youth  for 
a  new  luckless  plight : 

"Are  you  not,  youth,  acquainted  with  immeasurable 
nakedness,  and  its  great  lightness  and  inexpensiveness  ? 
What  you  buy  for  yourself  is  money  spent,  but  you  are  a 
brave  fellow,  and  can  live  without  expense !  They  do  not 
beat,  nor  torture  naked  people,  nor  drive  them  out  of  para- 
dise, nor  drag  them  down  from  the  other  world;  nor  will 
anyone  annoy  a  naked  man,  nor  has  assault  any  terrors  for 
a  naked  man!  " 

The  young  man  believed  that  dream :  he  went  and  spent 
all  his  wealth  in  drink ;  he  doffed  his  costly  dress,  put  on 
the  tavern  sackcloth,  covered  his  white  body.  The  youth 
felt  ashamed  to  show  himself  to  his  dear  friends.  He  went 
into  a  strange,  distant,  unknown  land.  On  his  way  he  came 
to  a  swift  river.  On  the  other  side  were  the  ferrymen,  and 
.they  asked  for  money  to  ferry  him  across;  but  the  youth  had 
none  to  give,  and  without  money  they  would  not  take  him 
across.     The  youth  sat  a  whole  day,  until  evening,  and  all 


158  The  Oldest  Period 

that  day  the  youth  had  nothing  to  eat,  not  even  half  a  piece 
of  bread.  The  young  man  arose  on  his  swift  feet,  and  stand- 
ing he  fell  to  grieving,  and  he  spoke  the  following  words: 

"Woe  to  me,  miserable  Luckless-Plight!  It  has  over- 
taken me,  young  man,  has  starved  me,  young  man,  with  a 
hungry  death.  Three  unlucky  days  have  I  passed,  for  I, 
young  man,  have  not  eaten  half  a  piece  of  bread !  I,  young 
man,  will  jump  into  the  swift  river:  swallow  my  body,  swift 
river!  And  eat,  O  fish,  my  white  body!  «And  that  will  be 
better  than  my  shameful  life,  for  I  have  fallen  into  the  hands 
of  Misery  Luckless-Plight. ' ' 

At  that  hour  Misery  leaped  from  behind  a  rock  near  the 
swift  river:  Misery  was  bare-footed  and  naked,  and  there  was 
not  a  thread  upon  it,  and  it  was  girded  with  a  bast  thong, 
and  it  called  out  with  a  mighty  voice : 

"  Wait,  young  man,  you  will  not  escape  from  me.  Misery! 
Jump  not  into  the  swift  river,  nor  be  in  your  misery  doleful ! 
Though  you  live  in  misery,  you  need  not  be  doleful,  but  let 
your  dolefulness  die  in  misery!  Remember,  young  man, 
your  former  life:  how  your  father  spoke  to  you,  and  your 
mother  instructed  you !  Why  did  you  not  then  obey  them  ? 
You  would  not  submit  to  them,  and  were  ashamed  to  bow 
to  them,  but  wanted  to  live  as  you  listed !  But  he  who  will 
not  listen  to  the  good  teaching  of  his  parents  will  learn 
from  me,  Misery  Luckless-Plight ! ' ' 

Luckless-Plight  spoke  the  following  words: 

"  Submit  to  me,  impure  Misery;  bow  before  me,  Misery, 
to  the  damp  earth,  for  there  is  no  one  wiser  in  the  whole 
world  than  I,  Misery;  and  you  will  be  ferried  across  the 
swift  river,  and  the  good  people  will  give  you  to  eat  and 
drink." 

The  young  man  saw  his  inevitable  calamity,  and  he  sub- 
mitted to  impure  Misery,  bowed  before  Misery  to  the  damp 
earth! 

The  good  fellow  went  ahead  with  a  light  step  over  the 
beautiful  fair  bank,  over  the  yellow  sand.  He  went  happy, 
not  at  all  doleful,  for  he  had  appeased  Misery  Luckless- 
Plight.     And  as  he  went,  he  thought  a  thought:  Since  I 


Misery  Luckless-Plight  159 

have  nothing,  I  need  not  worry  about  anything!  And  as 
the  youth  was  not  sorrowful,  he  started  a  fair  song,  a 
mighty,  sensible  song  it  was: 

"  Sorrowless  mother  has  borne  me;  with  a  comb  she 
combed  my  little  locks,  dressed  me  in  costly  garments,  and 
stepping  aside  shaded  her  eyes  and  looked  at  me:  '  Does 
my  child  look  well  in  costly  garments  ?  In  costly  garments 
my  child  is  a  priceless  child ! '  Thus  my  mother  always 
spoke  of  me !  And  then  I  learned  and  know  it  well  that  a 
scarlet  gown  cannot  be  made  without  a  master,  nor  a  child 
be  comforted  without  a  mother,  nor  a  drunkard  ever  become 
rich,  nor  a  dice-player  be  in  good  renown ;  and  I  was  taught 
by  my  parents  to  be  a  well-dressed  boy,  who  was  born  devoid 
of  everything." 

The  ferrymen  heard  the  good  fellow's  song,  took  the 
young  man  across  the  swift  river,  and  took  nothing  from 
him  for  the  ferrying.  The  good  people  gave  him  to  drink 
and  to  eat,  took  oflf  his  tavern  sackcloth,  gave  him  peasant's 
clothes,  and  spoke  to  him : 

*  *  You  are  a  good  fellow,  so  go  to  your  home,  to  your  be- 
loved, respected  parents,  to  your  father  and  mother  dear, 
greet  your  parents,  father  and  mother,  and  receive  from  them 
the  parental  blessing ! ' ' 

From  there  the  youth  went  to  his  home.  When  he  was 
in  the  open  field,  evil  Misery  had  gone  before  him;  it  met 
the  youth  in  the  open  field,  and  began  to  caw  above  the 
youth,  like  an  ill-omened  crow  above  a  falcon.  Misery 
spoke  the  following  words: 

"  Wait!  you  have  not  gone  away  from  me,  good  fellow! 
Not  merely  for  a  time  have  I,  Misery  Luckless-Plight,  at- 
tached myself  to  you;  I  shall  labour  with  you  to  your  very 
death!  And  not  I,  Misery,  alone,  but  all  my  family,  and 
there  is  a  goodly  race  of  them:  we  are  all  gentle  and  in- 
sinuating, and  he  who  joins  our  family  will  end  his  days 
among  us !  Such  is  the  fate  that  awaits  you  with  us.  Even 
if  you  were  to  be  a  bird  of  the  air,  or  if  you  went  into  the 
blue  sea  as  a  fish,  I  would  follow  you  at  your  right  hand." 

The  youth  flew  as  a  clear  falcon,  and  Misery  after  him  as 


i6o  The  Oldest  Period 

a  white  gerfalcon ;  the  youth  flew  as  a  steel-blue  dove,  and 
Misery  after  him  as  a  grey  hawk ;  the  youth  went  into  the 
field  as  a  grey  wolf,  and  Misery  after  him  with  hounds;  the 
youth  became  the  steppe-grass  in  the  field,  and  Misery  came 
with  a  sharp  scythe,  and  I,uckless-Plight  railed  at  him: 

"  You,  little  grass,  will  be  cut  down;  you,  little  grass,  will 
lie  on  the  ground,  and  the  boisterous  winds  will  scatter 
you!" 

The  youth  went  as  a  fish  into  the  sea,  and  Misery  after 
him  with  close-meshed  nets,  and  Misery  Luckless- Plight 
railed  at  him: 

"  You,  little  fish,  will  be  caught  at  the  shore,  and  you  will 
be  eaten  up  and  die  a  useless  death ! ' ' 

The  youth  went  on  foot  along  the  road,  and  Misery  at  his 
right  hand.  It  taught  the  youth  to  live  as  a  rich  man,  by 
killing  and  robbing,  so  that  they  might  hang  the  young 
man  for  it,  or  might  put  him  with  a  stone  in  the  water. 
The  youth  bethought  himself  of  the  road  of  salvation,  and 
at  once  the  youth  went  to  a  monastery  to  be  shorn  a  monk, 
and  Misery  stopped  at  the  holy  gates, —  no  longer  clung  to 
the  youth. 

And  this  is  the  end  of  the  story :  Lord,  preserve  us  from 
eternal  torment,  and  give  us,  O  Lord,  the  light  of  paradise! 
For  ever  and  ever,  amen ! 


THE  FOLKI^ORE 


VOL.  I.— II.  ' 

i6i 


THE  FOLKLORE 
Epic  Songs. 

The  first  collection  of  epic  songs  was  published  in  1804,  based  on 
the  collection  made  some  years  before  by  the  Siberian  Cossack 
Kirshd  Danilov.  Since  the  fifties  of  the  eighteenth  century  large 
numbers  of  these  songs  have  been  gathered  in  the  extreme  north-east, 
by  Kiry^evski,  Rybnikov,  Gilferding,  and  others.  They  are  gener- 
ally divided  into  the  cycle  of  Kiev,  with  Vladimir  and  his  druzhina, 
who  defend  the  country  against  external  enemies,  and  the  cycle  of 
N6vgorod,  in  which  is  described  the  wealth  and  luxury  of  the  once 
famous  commercial  emporium.  There  is  also  a  division  into  the 
older  heroes,  of  which  Volkh  Vsesldvevich  is  one,  and  the  younger 
heroes,  of  which  Ilyd  of  Miirom  is  the  most  noted. 

Good  accounts  of  the  epic  songs  may  be  found  in  most  of  the  gen- 
eral works  on  Russian  literature  mentioned  in  the  Preface.  The 
only  work  which  gives  a  large  number  of  these  epics,  with  notes,  is 
The  Epic  Songs  of  Russia,  by  Isabel  Florence  Hapgood,  with  an 
introductory  note  by  Prof,  Francis  J.  Child,  New  York,  1886. 

VOLKH  VSESLAvEVICH 

IN  the  heavens  the  bright  moon  did  shine, 
But  in  Kiev  a  mighty  hero  was  born, 
The  young  hero  Volkh  Vsesldvevich : 
The  damp  earth  trembled, 
Trembled  the  famous  Indian  realm, 
And  the  blue  sea  also  trembled 
On  account  of  the  birth  of  the  hero, 
The  young  Volkh  Vsesldvevich : 
The  fish  went  into  the  depth  of  the  sea. 
The  birds  flew  high  into  the  clouds, 
The  aurochses  and  stags  went  beyond  the  mountains, 
The  hares  and  foxes  into  the  woods, 

163 


i64  The  Folklore 

The  wolves  and  bears  into  the  pine- forests. 

The  sables  and  martens  upon  the  isles. 

Volkh  was  old  an  hour  and  a  half, 

And  Volkh  spoke,  like  peals  of  thunder: 

*'  Hail  to  thee,  lady  mother, 

Young  Mdrfa  Vsesldvevna! 

Swathe  me  not  in  swaddling-clothes  of  bast, 

Gird  me  not  with  bands  of  silk, — 

Swathe  me,  my  dear  mother. 

In  strong  mail  of  tempered  steel ; 

On  my  grim  head  place  a  helmet  of  gold, 

Into  my  right  hand  put  a  club, 

A  heavy  club  of  lead, 

In  weight  that  club  of  thirty  puds." 

Volkh  was  seven  years  old : 

His  mother  gave  him  to  be  instructed; 

As  soon  as  he  had  learned  to  read, 

She  put  him  down  to  write  with  pen. 

And  he  learned  swiftly  how  to  write. 

When  Volkh  was  ten  years  old: 

Then  Volkh  learned  all  cunning  arts: 

The  first  of  these  cunning  arts  was 

To  change  himself  into  a  falcon  clear; 

The  second  cunning  art  that  Volkh  had  learned 

Was  to  change  himself  into  a  grey  wolf; 

The  third  cunning  art  that  Volkh  had  learned 

Was  to  change  himself  into  a  dun  aurochs  with  horns  of 

gold. 
When  Volkh  was  twelve  years  old. 
He  began  to  collect  a  druzhina  for  himself. 
He  got  together  a  druzhina  within  three  years, 
His  druzhina  was  seven  thousand  strong. 
Volkh  himself  was  fifteen  years  old. 
And  all  his  druzhina  were  fifteen  years  old. 
All  that  famous  host  started  out 
For  the  capital,  for  Kiev  town: 
The  Tsar  of  India  was  arming  himself. 
He  was  boasting  and  bragging  to  all 


Epic  Songs  165 

That  lie  would  take  Kiev  town  by  assault, 

Would  let  God's  churches  go  up  in  smoke, 

Would  destroy  the  worshipful  monasteries. 

As  soon  as  Volkh  had  found  that  out, 

He  started  out  with  his  druzhina  brave 

For  the  famous  kingdom  of  India, 

With  his  druzhina  he  at  once  started  out. 

The  druzhina  sleeps,  but  Volkh  sleeps  not: 

He  turns  himself  into  a  grey  wolf, 

Runs,  races  over  dark  forests  and  wolds, 

And  strikes  down  the  antlered  beasts; 

Nor  does  he  give  quarter  to  wolf  or  bear, 

And  sables  and  panthers  are  his  favourite  morsel, 

Nor  does  he  disdain  hares  and  foxes. 

Volkh  gave  his  brave  druzhina  to  eat  and  drink, 

Gave  apparel  and  footwear  to  his  valiant  men: 

His  men  all  wore  black  sable  furs, 

And  other  coats  of  panthers. 

The  druzhina  sleeps,  but  Volkh  sleeps  not: 

He  turns  himself  into  a  clear  falcon. 

And  flies  far  away,  beyond  the  blue  sea, 

And  strikes  down  the  geese,  the  white  swans, 

Nor  does  he  give  quarter  to  the  grey- white  ducks; 

And  he  gave  his  druzhina  to  eat  and  drink: 

And  his  viands  were  of  many  a  kind, 

Of  many  a  kind,  and  sweetmeats  too. 

II,YA  of  MUROM  AND   NIGHTINGAI^F  THE 
ROBBER 

Young  Ilya  of  Mtirom,  Ivdn's  son,  went  to  matins  on 
Easter  morn.  And  as  he  stood  there  in  the  church,  he 
vowed  a  great  vow:  "  To  sing  a  high  mass  that  same  Easter 
day  in  Kiev  town,  and  go  thither  by  the  straight  way." 
And  yet  another  vow  he  took:  "As  he  fared  to  that  royal 
town  by  the  straight  way,  not  to  stain  his  hand  with  blood, 
nor  yet  his  sharp  sword  with  the  blood  of  the  accursed 
Tartars." 


1 66  The  Folklore 

His  third  vow  he  swore  upon  bis  mace  of  steel:  "  That 
though  he  should  go  the  straight  way,  he  would  not  shoot 
his  fiery  darts. ' ' 

Then  he  departed  from  the  cathedral  church,  entered  the 
spacious  courtyard  and  began  to  saddle  good  Cloudfall,  his 
shaggy  bay  steed,  to  arm  himself  and  prepare  for  his  jour- 
ney to  the  famous  town  of  Kiev,  to  the  worshipful  feast  and 
the  Fair  Sun  Prince  Vladimir  of  royal  Kiev.  Good  Cloud- 
fall's  mane  was  three  ells  in  length,  his  tail  three  fathoms, 
and  his  hair  of  three  colours.  Ilyd  put  on  him  first  the 
plaited  bridle,  next  twelve  saddle-cloths,  twelve  felts,  and 
upon  them  a  metal-bound  Circassian  saddle.  The  silken 
girths  were  twelve  in  number  —  not  for  youthful  vanity  but 
for  heroic  strength;  the  stirrups  were  of  damascened  steel 
from  beyond  the  seas,  the  buckles  of  bronze  which  rusteth 
not,  weareth  not,  the  silk  from  Samarcand  which  chafeth 
not,  teareth  not. 

They  saw  the  good  youth  as  he  mounted,  — as  he  rode  they 
saw  him  not;  so  swift  was  his  flight  there  seemed  but  a 
smoke-wreath  on  the  open  plain,  as  when  wild  winds  of 
winter  whirl  about  the  snow.  Good  Cloudfall  skimmed 
over  the  grass  and  above  the  waters;  high  over  the  standing 
trees  he  soared,  the  primeval  oaks,  yet  lower  than  the  drift- 
ing clouds.  From  mountain  to  mountain  he  sprang,  from 
hill  to  hill  he  galloped;  little  rivers  and  lakes  dropped  be- 
tween his  feet;  where  his  hoofs  fell,  founts  of  water  gushed 
forth;  in  the  open  plain  smoke  eddied  and  rose  aloft  in  a 
pillar.     At  each  leap  Cloudfall  compassed  a  verst  and  a  half. 

In  the  open  steppe  young  Ilyd  hewed  down  a  forest,  and 
raised  a  godly  cross,  and  wrote  thereon: 

"  Ilyd  of  Mtirom,  the  Old  Cossack,  rideth  to  royal  Kiev 
town  on  his  first  heroic  quest." 

When  he  drew  near  to  Chernigov,  there  stood  a  great  host 
of  Tartars, —  three  Tsar6viches,  each  with  forty  thousand 
men.  The  cloud  of  steam  from  the  horses  was  so  great  that 
the  fair  red  sun  was  not  yet  seen  by  day,  nor  the, bright 
moon  by  night.  The  grey  hare  could  not  course,  nor  the 
clear  falcon  fly  about  that  host,  so  vast  was  it. 


Epic  Songs  167 

When  Hyd  saw  that,  he  dismounted;  flying  down  before 
good  Cloudfall's  right  foot,  he  entreated  him: 

' '  Help  me,  my  shaggy  bay !  "  So  Cloudf all  soared  like  a 
falcon  clear,  and  Ilyd  plucked  up  a  damp,  ringbarked  oak 
from  the  damp  earth,  from  amid  the  stones  and  roots,  and 
bound  it  to  his  left  stirrup,  grasped  another  in  his  right 
hand,  and  began  to  brandish  it :  '  *  Every  man  may  take  a 
vow,"  quoth  he,  "  but  not  every  man  can  fulfill  it." 

Where  he  waved  the  damp  oak  a  street  appeared ;  where 
he  drew  it  back,  a  lane.  Great  as  was  the  number  that  he 
slew,  yet  twice  that  number  did  his  good  steed  trample 
under  foot.     Not  one  was  spared  to  continue  their  race. 

The  gates  of  Chernigov  were  strongly  barred,  a  great 
watch  was  kept,  and  the  stout  and  mighty  hero  stood  in 
counsel.  Therefore  Ilyd  flew  on  his  good  steed  over  the 
city  wall  (the  height  of  the  wall  was  twelve  fathoms)  and 
entered  the  church  where  all  the  people  were  assembled, 
praying  God,  repenting  and  receiving  the  sacrament  against 
sure  and  approaching  death.  Ilyd  crossed  himself  as  pre- 
scribed, did  reverence  as  enjoined,  and  cried: 

"  Hail,  ye  merchants  of  Chernigov,  warrior  maidens,  and 
mighty  heroes  all!  Why  repent  ye  now  and  receive  the 
sacrament?  Why  do  ye  bid  farewell  thus  to  the  white 
world?" 

Then  they  told  him  how  they  were  deceived  by  the  ac- 
cursed Tartars,  and  Ilyd  said:  "Go  ye  upon  the  famous 
wall  of  your  city,  and  look  towards  the  open  plain." 

They  did  as  he  commanded,  and  lo !  where  had  stood  the 
many,  very  many  foreign  standards,  like  a  dark,  dry  forest, 
the  accursed  Tartars  were  now  cut  down  and  heaped  up  like 
a  field  of  grain  which  hath  been  reaped. 

Then  the  men  of  Chernigov  did  slowly  reverence  to  the 
good  youth,  and  besought  him  that  he  would  reveal  his 
name  and  abide  in  Chernigov  to  serve  them  as  their  Tsar, 
King,  Voev6da, — what  he  would;  and  that  he  would  like- 
wise accept  at  their  hand  a  bowl  of  pure  red  gold,  a  bowl  of 
fair  silver  and  one  of  fine  seed  pearls. 

"  These  I  will  not  take,"  Ilyd  made  answer,  "  though  I 


1 68  The  Folklore 

have  earned  them:  neither  will  I  dwell  with  you  either  as 
Tsar  or  peasant.  lyive  ye  as  of  old,  my  brothers,  and  show 
me  the  straight  road  to  Kiev  town." 

Then  they  told  him :  "  By  the  straight  road  it  is  five  hun- 
dred versts,  and  by  the  way  about,  a  thousand.  Yet  take 
not  the  straight  road,  for  therein  lie  three  great  barriers:  the 
grey  wolf  trotteth  not  that  way,  the  black  raven  flieth  not 
overhead.  The  first  barrier  is  a  lofty  mountain;  the  second 
is  the  Smor6dina  River,  six  versts  in  width,  and  the  Black 
Morass;  and  beside  that  river,  the  third  barrier  is  Nightin- 
gale the  Robber. 

' '  He  hath  built  his  nest  on  seven  oaks,  that  magic  bird. 
When  he  whistleth  like  a  nightingale,  the  dark  forest  boweth 
to  the  earth,  the  green  leaves  wither,  horse  and  rider  fall  as 
dead.  For  that  cause  the  road  is  lost,  and  no  man  hath 
travelled  it  for  thirty  years." 

When  Ilyd,  the  Old  Cossack,  heard  that,  he  mounted  his 
good  steed,  and  rode  forthwith  that  way.  When  he  came  to 
the  lofty  mountain,  his  good  steed  rose  from  the  damp  earth, 
and  soared  as  a  bright  falcon  over  them  and  the  tall,  dream- 
ing forest.  When  he  came  to  the  Black  Morass,  he  plucked 
the  great  oaks  with  one  hand,  and  flung  them  across  the 
shaking  bog  for  thirty  versts,  while  he  led  good  Cloudfall 
with  the  other.  When  he  came  to  Mother  Smor6dina,  he 
beat  his  steed's  fat  sides,  so  that  the  horse  cleared  the  river 
at  a  bound. 

There  sat  Nightingale  the  Robber  (sumamed  the  Magic 
Bird),  and  thrust  his  turbulent  head  out  from  his  nest  upon 
the  seven  oaks;  sparks  and  flame  poured  from  his  mouth 
and  nostrils.  Then  he  began  to  pipe  like  a  nightingale,  to 
roar  like  an  aurochs,  and  to  hiss  like  a  dragon.  Thereat 
good  Cloudfall,  that  heroic  steed,  fell  upon  his  knees,  and 
Ilyd  began  to  beat  him  upon  his  flanks  and  between  his  ears. 

' '  Thou  wolfs  food ! ' '  cried  Ilyd,  ' '  thou  grass  bag !  Hast 
never  been  in  the  gloomy  forest,  nor  heard  the  song  of  the 
nightingale,  the  roar  of  wild  beast,  nor  serpent's  hiss  ?  " 

Then  Ilyd  brake  a  twig  from  a  willow  that  grew  nearby, 
that  he  might  keep  his  vow  not  to  stain  his  weapons  with 


Epic  Songs  169 

blood,  fitted  it  to  his  stout  bow,  and  conjured  it:  "  Fly,  little 
dart!  Knter  the  Nightingale's  left  eye;  come  out  at  his 
right  ear! " 

The  good  heroic  steed  rose  to  his  feet,  and  the  Robber 
Nightingale  fell  to  the  damp  earth  like  a  rick  of  grain. 

Then  the  Old  Cossack  raised  up  that  mighty  Robber, 
bound  him  to  his  stirrup  by  his  yellow  curls,  and  went  his 
way.  Ere  long  they  came  to  the  Nightingale's  house,  built 
upon  seven  pillars  over  seven  versts  of  ground.  About  the 
courtyard  there  was  an  iron  paling,  upon  each  stake  thereof 
a  spike,  and  on  each  spike  the  head  of  a  hero.  In  the  centre 
was  the  strangers'  court,  and  there  stood  three  towers  with 
golden  crests,  spire  joined  to  spire,  beam  merged  in  beam, 
roof  wedded  to  roof.  Green  gardens  were  planted  round 
about,  all  blossoming  and  blooming  with  azure  flowers,  and 
the  fair  orchards  encircled  all. 

When  the  Magic  Bird's  children  looked  from  the  latticed 
casements  and  beheld  the  hero  riding  with  one  at  his  stir- 
rup, they  cried:  "Ay,  lady  mother!  Our  father  cometh, 
and  leadeth  a  man  at  his  stirrup  for  us  to  eat." 

But  Elena,  the  One-Eyed,  Nightingale's  witch  daughter, 
looked  forth  and  said :  '  *  Nay,  it  is  the  Old  Cossack,  Ilyd  of 
Murom,  who  rideth  and  leadeth  our  father  in  bond." 

Then  spoke  Nightingale's  nine  sons:  "  We  will  transform 
ourselves  into  ravens,  and  rend  that  peasant  with  our  iron 
beaks,  and  scatter  his  white  body  over  the  plains."  But 
their  father  shouted  to  them  that  they  should  not  harm  the 
hero. 

Nevertheless  El^na  the  witch  ran  into  the  wide  court- 
yard, tore  a  steel  beam  of  a  hundred  and  fifty  puds'  weight 
from  the  threshold,  and  hurled  it  at  Ilya.  The  good  youth 
wavered  in  his  saddle,  yet,  being  nimble,  he  escaped  the  full 
force  of  the  blow.  Then  he  leaped  from  his  horse,  took  the 
witch  on  his  foot:  higher  flew  the  witch  then  than  God's 
temple,  higher  than  the  life-giving  cross  thereon,  and  fell 
against  the  rear  wall  of  the  court,  where  her  skin  burst. 

"Foolish  are  ye,  my  children!"  cried  the  Nightingale. 
**  Fetch  from  the  vaults  a  cartload  of  fair  gold,  another  of 


I70  The  Folklore 

pure  silver,  and  a  third  of  fine  seed  pearls,  and  give  to  the 
Old  Cossack,  Ilyd  of  Murom,  that  he  may  set  me  free." 

Quoth  Ilyd:  "  If  I  should  plant  my  sharp  spear  in  the 
earth,  and  thou  shouldst  heap  treasures  about  it  until  it  was 
covered,  yet  would  I  not  release  thee,  Nightingale,  lest  thou 
shouldst  resume  thy  thieving.  But  follow  me  now  to  glorious 
Kiev  town,  that  thou  mayest  receive  forgiveness  there." 

Then  his  good  steed  Cloudfall  began  to  prance,  and  the 
Magic  Bird  at  his  stirrup  to  dance,  and  in  this  wise  came 
the  good  youth,  the  Old  Cossack  to  Kfev,  to  glorious  Prince 
Vladimir. 

Now,  fair  Prince  Vladimir  of  royal  Kiev  was  not  at  home; 
he  had  gone  to  God's  temple.  Therefore  Ilyd  entered  the 
court  without  leave  or  announcement,  bound  his  horse  to 
the  golden  ring  in  the  carven  pillars,  and  laid  his  commands 
upon  that  good  heroic  steed :  ' '  Guard  thou  the  Nightingale, 
my  charger,  that  he  depart  not  from  stirrup  of  steel!  " 

And  to  Nightingale  he  said:  "  Look  to  it.  Nightingale, 
that  thou  depart  not  from  my  good  steed,  for  there  is  no 
place  in  all  the  white  world  where  thou  mayest  securely  hide 
thyself  from  me ! ' ' 

Then  he  betook  himself  to  Easter  mass.  There  he  crossed 
himself  and  did  reverence,  as  prescribed,  on  all  four  sides,  and 
to  the  Fair  Sun,  Prince  Vladimir,  in  particular.  And  after 
the  mass  was  over,  Prince  Vladimir  sent  to  bid  the  strange 
hero  to  the  feast,  and  there  inquired  of  him  from  what  horde 
and  land  he  came,  and  what  was  his  parentage.  So  Ilyd 
told  him  that  he  was  the  only  son  of  honourable  parents.  "  I 
stood  at  my  home  in  Murom,  at  matins,"  quoth  he,  **  and 
mass  was  but  just  ended  when  I  came  hither  by  the  straight 
way." 

When  the  heroes  that  sat  at  the  Prince's  table  heard  that, 
they  looked  askance  at  him. 

"  Nay,  good  youth,  liest  thou  not?  boastest  thou  not?" 
said  Fair  Sun  Vladimir.  "  That  way  hath  been  lost  these 
thirty  years,  for  there  stand  great  barriers  therein;  accursed 
Tartars  in  the  fields,  black  morasses :  and  beside  the  famed 
Smor6dina,  amid  the  bending  birches,  is  the  nest  of  the 


Epic  Songs  171 

Nightingale  on  seven  oaks;  and  that  Magic  Bird  hath  nine 
sons  and  eight  daughters,  and  one  is  a  witch.  He  hath 
permitted  neither  horse  nor  man  to  pass  him  these  many 
years." 

"Nay,  thou  Fair  Sun  Prince  Vladimir,"  Ilyd  answered: 
**  I  did  come  the  straight  way,  and  the  Nightingale  Robber 
now  sitteth  bound  within  thy  court." 

Then  all  left  the  tables  of  white  oak,  and  each  outran  the 
other  to  view  the  Nightingale,  as  he  sat  bound  to  the  steel 
stirrup,  with  one  eye  fixed  on  Kiev  town  and  the  other  on 
Chernigov  from  force  of  habit.  And  Princess  Aprdksiya 
came  forth  upon  the  railed  balcony  to  look. 

Prince  Vladimir  spoke:  "  Whistle,  thou  Nightingale,  roar 
like  an  aurochs,  hiss  like  a  dragon." 

But  the  Nightingale  replied:  "Not  thy  captive  am  I, 
Vladimir.      'T  is  not  thy  bread  I  eat.      But  give  me  wine." 

"  Give  him  a  cup  of  green  wine,"  spake  Ilyd,  "  a  cup  of  a 
bucket  and  a  half,  in  weight  a  pud  and  a  half,  and  a  cake  of 
fine  wheat  flour,  for  his  mouth  is  now  filled  with  blood  from 
my  dart." 

^  Vladimir  fetched  a  cup  of  green  wine,  and  one  of  the 
liquor  of  drunkenness,  and  yet  a  third  of  sweet  mead ;  and 
the  Nightingale  drained  each  at  a  draught.  Then  the  Old 
Cossack  commanded  the  Magic  Bird  to  whistle,  roar  and 
hiss,  but  under  his  breath,  lest  harm  might  come  to  any. 

But  the  Nightingale,  out  of  malice,  did  all  with  his  full 
strength.  And  at  that  cry,  all  the  ancient  palaces  in  Kiev 
fell  in  ruins,  the  new  castles  rocked,  the  roofs  through  all 
the  city  fell  to  the  ground,  damp  mother  earth  quivered,  the 
heroic  steed  fled  from  the  court,  the  young  damsels  hid  them- 
selves, the  good  youths  dispersed  through  the  streets,  and 
as  many  as  remained  to  listen  died.  Ilyd  caught  up  Prince 
Vladimir  under  one  arm,  and  his  Princess  under  the  other, 
to  shield  them;  yet  was  Vladimir  as  though  dead  for  the 
space  of  three  hours. 

' '  For  this  deed  of  thine  thou  shalt  die, ' '  spake  Ilyd  in  his 
wrath,  and  Vladimir  prayed  that  at  least  a  remnant  of  his 
people  might  be  spared. 


172  The  Folklore 

The  Nightingale  began  to  entreat  forgiveness,  and  that  he 
might  be  allowed  to  build  a  great  monastery  with  his  ill- 
gotten  gold.  "  Nay,"  said  Ilyd,  "  this  kind  buildeth  never, 
but  destroyeth  alway." 

With  that  he  took  Nightingale  the  Robber  by  his  white 
hands,  led  him  far  out  upon  the  open  plain,  fitted  a  burning 
arrow  to  his  stout  bow  and  shot  it  into  the  black  breast  of 
that  Magic  Bird.  Then  he  struck  oflf  his  turbulent  head, 
and  scattered  his  bones  to  the  winds,  and,  mounting  his  good 
Cloudfall,  came  again  to  good  Vladimir. 

Again  they  sat  at  the  oaken  board,  eating  savoury  viands 
and  white  swans,  and  quafl&ng  sweet  mead.  Great  gifts  and 
much  worship  did  Ilyd,  receive,  and  Vladimir  gave  command 
that  he  should  be  called  evermore  Ilyi  of  M6rom,  the  Old 
Cossack,  after  his  native  town. —  From  I.  F.  Hapgood's  TTie 
Epic  Songs  of  Russia. 

Historical  Songs. 

The  historical  songs  are  composed  in  the  same  manner  as  the  epic 
songs,  of  which  they  are  an  organic  continuation.  The  oldest  his- 
torical songs  treat  of  the  Tartar  invasion.  A  large  number  are  cen- 
tred about  Ivdn  the  Terrible,  and  those  that  describe  Yemidk's 
exploits  and  conquests  in  Siberia  are  probably  the  most  interesting 
of  that  period.  Some  of  those  referring  to  the  time  of  the  Boris 
Godun6v  have  been  given  on  pp.  130-4,  having  been  collected  by  Rich- 
ard James,  the  English  divine.  There  are  also  songs  dealing  with 
St^nka  Rdzin,  the  robber,  who  was  executed  in  1671,  and  Peter  the 
Great,  of  which  that  on  the  taking  of  Azov  in  1696  is  given  below. 

There  are  few  collections  of  these  songs  in  English  :  W.  R.  Mor- 
fiU's  Slavonic  Literature  and  Talvi's  Historical  View  are  the  only 
ones  that  give  extracts  of  any  consequence.  Accounts  of  these  songs 
may  be  found  in  most  of  the  Histories  of  Russian  Literatare  men- 
tioned in  the  Preface. 

yermAk 

On  the  glorious  steppes  of  Saratov, 

Below  the  city  of  Sardtov, 

And  above  the  city  of  Kamyshin, 

The  Cossacks,  the  free  people,  assembled; 

They  collected,  the  brothers,  in  a  ring; 


Historical  Songs  173 

The  Cossacks  of  the  Don,  the  Greb^n,  and  the  Yaik, 

Their  Hetman  was  Yermdk,  the  son  of  Timof 6y ; 

Their  captain  was  Asbdshka,  the  son  of  Lavr6nti. 

They  planned  a  little  plan. 

*'  The  summer,  the  warm  summer  is  going, 

And  the  cold  winter  approaches,  my  brothers. 

Where,  brothers,  shall  we  spend  the  winter  ? 

If  we  go  to  the  Yaik,  it  is  a  terrible  passage; 

If  we  go  to  the  V61ga,  we  shall  be  considered  robbers; 

If  we  go  to  the  city  of  Kazan,  there  is  the  Tsar  — 

The  Tsar  Ivdn  Vasilevich,  the  Terrible. 

There  he  has  great  forces." 

"  There,  Yermak,  thou  wilt  be  hanged, 

And  we  Cossacks  shall  be  captured 

And  shut  up  in  strong  prisons." 

Yermdk,  the  son  of  Timofey,  takes  up  his  speech:— 

"  Pay  attention,  brothers,  pay  attention, 

And  listen  to  me  — Yermdk ! 

Let  us  spend  the  winter  in  Astrakhdn; 

And  when  the  fair  Spring  reveals  herself, 

Then,  brothers,  let  us  go  on  a  foray; 

lyCt  us  earn  our  wine  before  the  terrible  Tsar! " 

*'  Ha,  brothers,  my  brave  Hetmans! 

Make  for  yourselves  boats, 

Make  the  rowlocks  of  fir, 

Make  the  oars  of  pine ! 

By  the  help  of  God  we  will  go,  brothers; 

I^et  us  pass  the  steep  mountains, 

I,et  us  reach  the  infidel  kingdom, 

Let  us  conquer  the  Siberian  kingdom, — 

That  will  please  our  Tsar,  our  master. 

I  will  myself  go  to  the  White  Tsar, 

I  shall  put  on  a  sable  cloak, 

I  shall  make  my  submission  to  the  White  Tsar." 

"  Oh!  thou  art  our  hope,  orthodox  Tsar; 

Do  not  order  me  to  be  executed,  but  bid  me  say  my  say. 

Since  I  am  Yermdk,  the  son  of  Timof6y! 


174  The  Folklore 

I  am  the  robber  Hetman  of  the  Don; 
'T  was  I  went  over  the  blue  sea. 
Over  the  blue  sea,  the  Caspian ; 
And  I  it  was  who  destroyed  the  ships; 
And  now,  our  hope,  our  orthodox  Tsar, 
I  bring  you  my  traitorous  head. 
And  with  it  I  bring  the  empire  of  Siberia." 
And  the  orthodox  Tsar  spoke; 
He  spoke — the  terrible  IvAu  Vasilevich : 
"  Ha!  thou  art  Yermdk,  the  son  of  Timof6y, 
Thou  art  the  Hetman  of  the  warriors  of  the  Don. 
I  pardon  you  and  your  band, 
I  pardon  you  for  your  trusty  service, 

And  I  give  you  the  glorious  gentle  Don  as  an  inheritance.'* 
— From  W.  R.  Morfill's  Slavonic  Literature. 

THE  BOYAR'S  EXECUTION 

**  Thou,  my  head,  alas!  my  head, 
I/)ng  hast  served  me,  and  well,  my  head ; 
Full  three-and-thirty  summers  long; 
Ever  astride  of  my  gallant  steed, 
Never  my  foot  from  its  stirrup  drawn. 
But  alas!  thou  hast  gained,  my  head, 
Nothing  of  joy  or  other  good; 
Nothing  of  honours  or  even  thanks." 

Yonder  along  the  Butcher's  street. 

Out  to  the  field  through  the  Butcher's  gate» 

They  are  leading  a  prince  and  peer. 

Priests  and  deacons  are  walking  before, 

In  their  hands  a  great  book  open; 

Then  there  follows  a  soldier  troop, 

With  their  drawn  sabres  flashing  bright. 

At  his  right  the  headsman  goes, 

Holds  in  his  hand  the  keen -edged  sword; 

At  his  left  goes  his  sister  dear. 

And  she  weeps  as  the  torrent  pours, 

And  she  sobs  as  the  fountains  gush. 


Historical  Songs  175 

Comforting  speaks  her  brother  to  her: 
"Weep  not,  weep  not,  my  sister  dear! 
Weep  not  away  thy  eyes  so  clear, 
Dim  not,  O  dim  not  thy  face  so  fair, 
Make  not  heavy  thy  joyous  heart ! 
Say,  for  what  is  it  thou  weepest  so  ? 
Is  't  for  my  goods,  my  inheritance  ? 
Is  't  for  my  lands,  so  rich  and  wide  ? 
Is  't  for  my  silver,  or  is  't  for  my  gold, 
Or  dost  thou  weep  for  my  life  alone  ?  " 

'*  Ah,  thou,  my  light,  my  brother  dear! 
Not  for  thy  goods  or  inheritance, 
Not  for  thy  lands,  so  rich  and  wide, 
Is  't  that  my  eyes  are  weeping  so; 
Not  for  thy  silver  and  not  for  thy  gold, 
'T  is  for  thy  life  I  am  weeping  so." 

"Ah,  thou,  my  light,  my  sister  sweet! 

Thou  mayest  weep,  but  it  won't  avail; 

Thou  mayest  beg,  but  't  is  all  in  vain; 

Pray  to  the  Tsar,  but  he  will  not  yield. 

Merciful  truly  was  God  to  me. 

Truly  gracious  to  me  the  Tsar, 

So  he  commanded  my  traitor  head 

Off  should  be  hewn  from  my  shoulders  strong.'* 

Now  the  scaffold  the  prince  ascends, 
Calmly  mounts  to  the  place  of  death ; 
Prays  to  his  Great  Redeemer  there, 
Humbly  salutes  the  crowd  around : 
"  Farewell,  world,  and  thou  people  of  God! 
Pray  for  my  sins  that  burden  me  sorel" 
Scarce  had  the  people  ventured  then 
On  him  to  look,  when  his  traitor  head 
Off  was  hewn  from  his  shoulders  strong. 

— From  Talvi's  Historical  View, 


176  The  Folklore 

THE  STORMING   OF  AZOV 

The  poor  soldiers  have  no  rest, 

Neither  night  nor  day ! 
Late  at  evening  the  word  was  given 

To  the  soldiers  gay  ; 
All  night  long  their  weapons  cleaning, 

Were  the  soldiers  good  ; 
Ready  in  the  morning  dawn, 

All  in  ranks  they  stood. 

Not  a  golden  trumpet  is  it, 

That  now  sounds  so  clear; 
Nor  the  silver  flute's  tone  is  it, 

That  thou  now  dost  hear. 
*T  is  the  great  White  Tsar  who  speaketh, 

'T  is  our  father  dear. 
"  Come,  my  princes,  my  boydrs, 

Nobles,  great  and  small ! 
Now  consider  and  invent 

Good  advice,  ye  all. 
How  the  soonest,  how  the  quickest. 

Fort  Azov  may  fall!  " 

The  boydrs,  they  stood  in  silence, — 

And  our  father  dear. 
He  again  began  to  speak. 

In  his  eye  a  tear: 
"Come,  my  children,  good  dragoons, 

And  my  soldiers  all. 
Now  consider  and  invent 

Brave  advice,  ye  all. 
How  the  soonest,  how  the  quickest, 

Fort  Azov  may  fall!" 

Like  a  humming  swarm  of  bees, 

So  the  soldiers  spake, 
With  one  voice  at  once  they  spake: 

'*  Father  dear,  great  Tsar! 


Folksongs  177 

Fall  it  must !  and  all  oitr  lives 

Thereon  we  gladly  stake." 
Set  already  was  the  moon, 

Nearly  past  the  night; 
To  the  storming  on  they  marched, 

With  the  morning  light; 
To  the  fort  with  bulwarked  towers 

And  walls  so  strong  and  white. 

Not  great  rocks  they  were,  which  rolled 

From  the  mountains  steep ; 
From  the  high,  high  walls  there  rolled 

Foes  into  the  deep. 
No  white  snow  shines  on  the  fields. 

All  so  white  and  bright; 
But  the  corpses  of  our  foes 

Shine  so  bright  and  white. 
Not  upswollen  by  heavy  rains 

I^eft  the  sea  its  bed; 
No !     In  rills  and  rivers  streams 

Turkish  blood  so  red ! 

— From  Talvi's  Historical  View. 
Folksongs. 

Pagan  Russia  was  rich  in  ceremonies  in  honour  of  the  various  divin- 
ities representing  the  powers  of  nature.  Christianity  has  not  entirely 
obliterated  the  memory  of  these  ancient  rites  :  they  are  preserved  in 
the  ceremonial  songs  that  are  recited,  now  of  course  without  a  know- 
ledge of  their  meaning,  upon  all  church  holidays,  to  which  the  old 
festivities  have  been  adapted.  Thus,  the  feast  of  the  winter  solstice 
now  coincides  with  Christmas,  while  the  old  holiday  of  the  summer 
solstice  has  been  transferred  to  St,  John's  Day,  on  June  24th. 

The  koly&das  are  sung  at  Christmas,  and  seem  to  have  been  origin- 
ally in  honour  of  the  sun.  The  name  appears  to  be  related  to  the 
Latin  "  calenda,"  but  it  is  generally  supposed  that  this  is  only  accid- 
ental, and  that  Koly&da  was  one  of  the  appellations  of  the  sun. 
Young  boys  and  girls  march  through  the  village  or  town  and  exact 
contributions  of  eatables  by  reciting  the  kolyddas.  In  other  places 
they  sing,  instead,  songs  to  a  mythical  being,  Ovsdn,  on  the  eve  of  the 
New  Year.    This  Ovs^n  is  some  other  representation  of  the  sun. 

During  the  Christmas  festivity  fortunes  are  told  over  a  bowl  of 

VOL.  1. — 13. 


178  The  Folklore 

water  which  is  placed  on  the  table,  while  in  it  are  put  rings,  earrings, 
salt,  bread,  pieces  of  coal.  During  the  fortune-telling  they  sing  the 
bowl-songs,  after  each  of  which  a  ring,  or  the  like,  is  removed. 
After  the  fortune-telling  follow  the  games  and  the  songs  connected 
with  these. 

Spring  songs  are  recited  in  the  week  after  Easter.  Soon  after,  and 
lasting  until  the  end  of  June,  the  round  dance,  the  khorovdd,  is 
danced  upon  some  eminence,  and  the  khorov6d  songs,  referring  to 
love  and  marriage,  are  sung.  There  are  still  other  reminiscences  of 
heathen  festivals,  of  which  the  most  important  is  that  to  Kupdla,  on 
the  night  from  the  23rd  to  the  24th  of  June,  when  the  peasants  jump 
over  fires  and  bathe  in  the  river. 

The  wedding-songs,  of  which  there  is  a  large  number  in  the  long 
ceremony  of  the  wedding  {cf.  Kotoshikhin's  account  of  the  seven- 
teenth century  wedding,  p.  143  et  seq.),  contain  reminiscences  of  the 
ancient  custom  of  the  stealing  of  the  bride,  and,  later,  of  the  purchase 
of  the  bride.  Most  of  the  love  songs  that  are  not  part  of  the  khorov6d 
are  detached  songs  of  the  wedding  ceremonial. 

The  beggar-songs  are  more  properly  apocryphal  songs  of  book 
origin,  handed  down  from  great  antiquity,  but  not  preceding  the  in- 
troduction of  Christianity.  There  are  also  lamentations,  charms,  and 
other  similar  incantations,  in  which  both  pagan  and  Christian  ideas 
are  mingled. 

An  account  of  the  folksong  will  be  found  in  TaXvi^s  Historical  View 
of  the  Languages  and  Literatures  of  the  Slavic  Nations,  New  York, 
1850 ;  W.  R.  S.  Ralston's  The  Songs  of  the  Russian  People,  London, 
1872  ;  Russian  Folk-Songs  as  Sung  by  the  People,  and  Peasant  Wed- 
ding Ceretnonies,  translated  by  E.  Lineff,  with  preface  by  H.  E. 
Krehbiel,  Chicago,  1893.  Also  in  the  following  periodical  articles : 
The  Popular  Songs  of  Russia,  in  Hogg's  Instructor,  1855,  and  the 
same  article,  in  Eclectic  Magazine,  vol.  xxxvi;  Russian  Songs  and 
Folktales,  in  Quarterly  Review,  1874  (vol.  cxxxn).  A  number  of 
popular  songs  have  been  translated  by  Sir  John  Bowring  in  h\&Speci' 
mens  of  the  Russian  Poets,  both  parts. 

KOI^YADKA 

Beyond  the  river,  the  swift  river, 

Oy  Kolyddka! 
There  stand  dense  forests: 
In  those  forests  fires  are  burning, 

Great  fires  are  burning. 
Around  the  fires  stand  benches, 

Stand  oaken  benches, 


Folksongs  179 

On  these  benches  the  good  youths, 
The  good  youths,  the  fair  maidens, 

Sing  Kolydda  songs, 

Kolydda,  Kolyada! 
In  their  midst  sits  an  old  man ; 
He  sharpens  his  steel  knife. 
A  cauldron  boils  hotly. 
Near  the  cauldron  stands  a  goat. 
They  are  going  to  kill  the  goat. 
"  Brother  Ivdnushko, 
Come  forth,  spring  out!  " 
' '  Gladly  would  I  have  sprung  out. 
But  the  bright  stone 
Drags  me  down  to  the  cauldron : 
The  yellow  sands 
Have  sucked  dry  my  heart." 

OyKolyddka!     Oy  Kolyddka! 
-From  W.  R.  S.  Ralston's  The  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. 

BOWI.-SONG 

A  grain  adown  the  velvet  strolled  —  Glory ! 
No  purer  pearl  could  be  —  Glory ! 
The  pearl  against  a  ruby  rolled  —  Glory ! 
Most  beautiful  to  see  —  Glory ! 
Big  is  the  pearl  by  ruby's  side  —  Glory! 
Well  for  the  bridegroom  with  his  bride  —  Glory ! 
— From  John  Pollen's  Rhymes  from  the  Russian. 

A  PARTING  SCENE 

"  Sit  not  up,  my  love,  late  at  evening  hour, 
Bum  the  light  no  more,  light  of  virgin  wax, 
Wake  no  more  for  me  till  the  midnight  hour; 
Ab,  gone  by,  gone  by  is  the  happy  time! 
Ah,  the  wind  has  blown  all  our  joys  away, 
And  has  scattered  them  o'er  the  empty  field. 
For  my  father  dear,  he  will  have  it  so, 
And  my  mother  dear  has  commanded  it. 


i8o  The  Folklore 

That  I  now  must  wed  with  another  wife, 
With  another  wife,  with  an  unloved  one! 
But  on  heaven  high  two  suns  never  burn, 
Two  moons  never  shine  in  the  stilly  night, 
And  an  honest  lad  never  loveth  twice! 
But  my  father  shall  be  obeyed  by  me, 
And  my  mother  dear  I  will  now  obey; 
To  another  wife  I  '11  be  wedded  soon, 
To  another  wife,  to  an  early  death. 
To  an  early  death,  to  a  forcM  one." 

Wept  the  lovely  maid  many  bitter  tears, 
Many  bitter  tears,  and  did  speak  these  words: 
"  O  beloved  one,  never  seen  enough, 
Longer  will  I  not  live  in  this  white  world. 
Never  without  thee,  thou  tny  star  of  hope! 
Never  has  the  dove  more  than  one  fond  mate. 
And  the  female  swan  ne'er  two  husbands  has, 
Neither  can  I  have  two  beloved  friends." 

No  more  sits  she  now  late  at  evening  hour. 
But  the  light  still  bums,  light  of  virgin  wax; 
On  the  table  stands  the  coflSn  newly  made ; 
In  the  coffin  new  lies  the  lovely  maid. 

— From  Talvi's  Historical  View. 

THE  DOVE 

On  an  oak-tree  sat. 
Sat  a  pair  of  doves; 
And  they  billed  and  cooed 
And  they,  heart  to  heart, 
Tenderly  embraced 
With  their  little  wings; 
On  them,  suddenly, 
Darted  down  a  hawk. 

One  he  seized  and  tore. 
Tore  the  little  dove. 


Folksongs  j8i 

With  his  feathered  feet, 
Soft  blue  little  dove; 
And  he  poured  his  blood 
Streaming  down  the  tree. 
Feathers,  too,  were  strewed 
Widely  o'er  the  field; 
High  away  the  down 
Floated  in  the  air. 

Ah!  how  wept  and  wept, — 
Ah !  how  sobbed  and  sobbed 
The  poor  doveling  then 
For  her  little  dove. 

"  Weep  not,  weep  not  so, 
Tender  little  bird!" 
Spake  the  light  young  hawk 
To  the  little  dove. 

"O'er  the  sea  away, 
O'er  the  far  blue  sea, 
I  will  drive  to  thee 
Flocks  of  other  doves. 
From  them  choose  thee  then, 
Choose  a  soft  and  blue, 
With  his  feathered  feet, 
Better  little  dove." 

"  Fly,  thou  villain,  not 
O'er  the  far  blue  sea! 
Drive  not  here  to  me 
Flocks  of  other  doves. 
Ah !  of  all  thy  doves 
None  can  comfort  me; 
Only  he,  the  father 
Of  my  little  ones. ' ' 

— From  Talvi's  Historical  View. 


i82  The  Folklore 

THE  FAITHLESS  LOVER 

Nightingale,  O  nightingale, 
Nightingale  so  full  of  song! 
Tell  me,  tell  me,  where  thou  fliest, 
Where  to  sing  now  in  the  night  ? 
Will  another  maiden  hear  thee, 
Like  to  me,  poor  me,  all  night 
Sleepless,  restless,  comfortless. 
Ever  full  of  tears  her  eyes  ? 
Fly,  O  fly,  dear  nightingale, 
Over  hundred  countries  fly, 
Over  the  blue  sea  so  far! 
Spy  the  distant  countries  through, 
Town  and  village,  hill  and  dell, 
Whether  thou  find'st  anyone, 
Who  so  sad  is  as  I  am  ? 

Oh,  I  bore  a  necklace  once. 
All  of  pearls  like  morning  dew; 
And  I  bore  a  finger-ring, 
With  a  precious  stone  thereon  ; 
And  I  bore  deep  in  my  heart 
Love,  a  love  so  warm  and  true. 
When  the  sad,  sad  autumn  came. 
Were  the  pearls  no  longer  clear; 
And  in  winter  burst  my  ring. 
On  my  finger,  of  itself! 
Ah !  and  when  the  spring  came  on, 
Had  forgotten  me  my  love. 

— From  Talvi's  Historical  View. 

ELEGY 

O  thou  field !  thou  clean  and  level  field ! 
O  thou  plain,  so  far  and  wide  around! 
Level  field,  dressed  up  with  everything. 
Everything;  with  sky-blue  flowerets  small. 
Fresh  green  grass,  and  bushes  thick  with  leaves; 
But  defaced  by  one  thing,  but  by  one ! 


Folksongs  183 

I^or  in  thy  very  middle  stands  a  broom, 
On  the  broom  a  young  grey  eagle  sits, 
And  he  butchers  wild  a  raven  black, 
Sucks  the  raven's  heart-blood  glowing  hot, 
Drenches  with  it,  too,  the  moistened  earth. 
Ah,  black  raven,  youth  so  good  and  brave! 
Thy  destroyer  is  the  eagle  grey. 
Not  a  swallow  't  is,  that  hovering  clings, 
Hovering  clings  to  her  warm  little  nest; 
To  the  murdered  son  the  mother  clings. 
And  her  tears  fall  like  the  rushing  stream, 
And  his  sister's  like  the  flowing  rill; 
Like  the  dew  her  tears  fall  of  his  love : 
When  the  sun  shines,  it  dries  up  the  dew. 

— From  Talvi's  Historical  View. 

THE  FAREWELL 

Brightly  shining  sank  the  waning  moon, 
And  the  sun  all  beautiful  arose; 
Not  a  falcon  floated  through  the  air, 
Strayed  a  youth  along  the  river's  brim. 
Slowly  strayed  he  on  and  dreamingly. 
Sighing  looked  unto  the  garden  green, 
Heart  all  filled  with  sorrow  mused  he  so: 
"All  the  little  birds  are  now  awake, 
All,  embracing  with  their  little  wings. 
Greeting,  all  have  sung  their  morning  songs. 
But,  alas !  that  sweetest  doveling  mine. 
She  who  was  my  youth's  first  dawning  love, 
In  her  chamber  slumbers  fast  and  deep. 
Ah,  not  even  her  friend  is  in  her  dreams, 
Ah !  no  thought  of  me  bedims  her  soul, 
While  my  heart  is  torn  with  wildest  grief, 
That  she  comes  to  meet  me  here  no  more." 

Stepped  the  maiden  from  her  chamber  then; 
Wet,  oh,  wet  with  tears  her  lovely  face ! 


1 84  The  Folklore 

All  with  sadness  dimmed  her  eyes  so  clear, 
Feebly  drooping  hung  her  snowy  arms. 
'T  was  no  arrow  that  had  pierced  her  heart, 
'T  was  no  adder  that  had  stung  her  so; 
Weeping,  thus  the  lovely  maid  began: 
"  Fare  thee  well,  belovM,  fare  thee  well. 
Dearest  soul,  thy  father's  dearest  son! 
I  have  been  betrothed  since  yesterday ; 
Come,  to-morrow,  troops  of  wedding  guests; 
To  the  altar  I,  perforce,  must  go ! 
I  shall  be  another's  then;  and  yet 
Thine,  thine  only,  thine  alone  till  death. ' ' 

— From  Talvi's  Historical  View, 

Sing,  O  sing  again,  lovely  lark  of  mine. 
Sitting  there  alone  amidst  the  green  of  May ! 

In  the  prison-tower  the  lad  sits  mournfully; 

To  his  father  writes,  to  his  mother  writes: 

Thus  he  wrote,  and  these,  these  were  the  very  words: 

"  O  good  father  mine,  thou  belovM  sir! 

O  good  mother  mine,  thou  belovM  dame ! 

Ransom  me,  I  pray,  ransom  the  good  lad, — 

He  is  your  beloved,  is  your  only  son!  " 

Father,  mother, — both, — both  refused  to  hear. 

Cursed  their  hapless  race,  cursed  their  hapless  seed: 

"  Never  did  a  thief  our  honest  name  disgrace, — 

Highwayman  or  thief  never  stained  the  name!  " 

Sing,  O  sing  again,  lovely  lark  of  mine, 
Sitting  there  alone  in  the  green  of  May  1 

From  the  prison-tower  thus  the  prisoner  wrote. 

Thus  the  prisoner  wrote  to  his  beloved  maid: 

"  O  thou  soul  of  mine!     O  thou  lovely  maid! 

Truest  love  of  mine,  sweetest  love  of  mine ! 

Save,  O  save,  I  pray,  save  the  prisoned  lad!  " 

Swiftly  then  exclaimed  that  belovM  maid : 

"  Come,  attendant!     Come!     Come,  my  faithful  nurse! 


Folksongs  185 

Servant  faithful,  you  that  long  have  faithful  been, 
Bring  the  golden  key,  bring  the  key  with  speed ! 
Ope  the  treasure  chests,  open  them  in  haste; 
Golden  treasures  bring,  bring  them  straight  to  me: 
Ransom  him,  I  say,  ransom  the  good  lad, 
He  is  my  beloved,  of  my  heart  beloved." 

Sing,  O  sing  again,  lovely  lark  of  mine, 
Sitting  there  alone  amidst  the  green  of  May ! 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the 
Russian  Poets,  Part  II. 

WEDDING  GEAR 

The  blacksmith  from  the  forge  comes  he — Glory ! 
And  carries  with  him  hammers  three — Glory ! 
O  blacksmith,  blacksmith,  forge  for  me — Glory! 
A  wedding  crown  of  gold,  bran-new! — Glory! 
A  golden  ring,  oh,  make  me,  do ! — Glory ! 
With  what  is  left  a  gold  pin  too! — Glory! 
The  crown  on  wedding  day  I  '11  wear — Glory ! 
On  golden  ring  my  troth  I  '11  swear — Glory! 
The  pin  will  bind  my  veil  to  hair — Glory ! 

— From  John  Pollen's  Rhymes  from  the  Russian. 

THE  SAI.E  OF  THE  BRAID 

It  was  not  a  horn  that  in  the  early  morning  sounded; 
It  was  a  maiden  her  ruddy  braid  lamenting : 
*'  Last  night  they  twined  my  braid  together, 
And  interweaved  my  braid  with  pearls. 
Lukd  Ivanovich — Heaven  requite  him ! — 
Has  sent  a  pitiless  svdkha  hither. 
My  braid  has  she  begun  to  rend. 
Tearing  out  the  gold  from  my  braid, 
Shaking  my  pearls  from  my  ruddy  braids." 
-From  W.  R.  S.  Ralston's  The  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. 


1 86  The  Folklore 

MARRIAGE  SONG 

Her  mother  has  counselled  Maryushka, 
Has  given  counsel  to  her  dear  Efimovna. 

"  Go  not,  my  child, 

Go  not,  my  darling. 
Into  thy  father's  garden  for  apples, 

Nor  catch  the  mottled  butterflies, 

Nor  frighten  the  little  birds, 
Nor  interrupt  the  clear-voiced  nightingale. 

For  shouldst  thou  pluck  the  apples 

The  tree  will  wither  away ; 

Or  seize  the  mottled  butterfly. 

The  butterfly  will  die. 
And  shouldst  thou  frighten  a  little  bird, 

That  bird  will  fly  away; 
Or  interrupt  the  clear-voiced  nightingale, 

The  nightingale  will  be  mute: 

But  catch,  my  child. 

My  dear  one,  catch 
The  falcon  bright  in  the  open  field, 

The  green,  the  open  field." 

Mdryushka  has  caught. 
Caught  has  the  dear  Efimovna, 
The  falcon  bright  in  the  open  field. 
The  green,  the  open  field. 
She  has  perched  hira  on  her  hand, 
She  has  brought  him  to  her  mother. 
"  Mother  mine,  Gosuddrynya, 
I  have  caught  the  falcon  bright." 
—From  W.  R.  S.  Ralston' s  The  Songs  of  the  Russian  People. 

BEGGARS'  SONG 

"Whither  art  Thou  fleeing?"  they  spoke  in  tears  to 
Christ.  "For  whom  art  Thou  leaving  us?  Who  will 
without  Thee  give  us  to  drink  and  eat,  will  clothe  us  and 
protect  us  against  dark  night  ?  " 


Folksongs  187 

"Weep  not,  poor  people,"  replied  Christ:  "  Weep  not, 
mendicants  and  homeless  and  small  orphans !  I  will  leave 
you  a  golden  mountain,  will  give  you  a  honeyed  river,  will 
give  you  vineyards,  will  give  you  heavenly  manna.  Only 
know  how  to  manage  that  golden  mountain,  and  to  divide  it 
among  yourselves:  and  you  will  be  fed  and  given  drink;  you 
will  be  clothed  and  covered  up  in  dark  nights." 

Then  John  the  Theologue  retorted:  "Hail  to  Thee,  real 
Christ,  King  of  heaven !  Permit  me  to  tell  Thee  a  few  words, 
and  take  not  ill  my  words !  Give  them  not  a  golden  mount- 
ain, nor  a  honeyed  river  and  vineyards,  give  them  not 
heavenly  manna !  They  will  not  know  how  to  manage  that 
mountain;  it  will  be  beyond  their  strength,  and  they  will 
not  be  able  to  divide  up :  they  will  not  harvest  the  grapes, 
will  not  taste  the  manna.  Princes  and  noblemen,  pastors, 
ofl&cials  and  merchants  will  hear  of  that  mountain,  and  they 
will  take  away  from  them  the  golden  mountain  and  honeyed 
river,  the  vineyards  and  heavenly  manna:  they  will  divide 
up  the  golden  mountain  among  themselves  according  to 
their  ranks,  but  the  poor  people  will  not  be  admitted,  and 
there  will  be  much  murder,  and  much  spilling  of  blood. 
The  poor  will  have  nothing  to  live  on,  nothing  to  wear, 
and  nothing  to  protect  themselves  with  against  dark  night: 
the  poor  will  die  of  starvation,  will  freeze  to  death  in  cold 
winter.  Give  them  rather  Thy  holy  name  and  Word  of 
Christ;  and  the  poor  will  go  all  over  the  earth,  will  glorify 
Thee,  and  the  orthodox  will  give  them  alms;  the  poor  will 
be  fed  and  given  drink,  will  be  clothed  and  protected  against 
cold  night." 

"Thank  you,  John  the  Theologue!"  replied  Christ  the 
heavenly  King.  ."  You  have  said  a  sensible  word,  and  have 
discussed  well, — you  have  taken  good  care  of  the  poor." 

AN  ORPHAN'S   WAILING 

O  mother  dear  that  bare  me,  O  with  sadness  longed-for 
one !  To  whom  hast  thou  left  us,  on  whom  are  we  orphans 
to  rest  our  hopes  ?  From  no  quarter  do  warm  breezes  breathe 
on  us,  we  hear  no  words  of  kindness.     Great  folks  turn  away 


i83  The  Folklore 

from  us,  our  kinsfolk  renounce  us;  rust  eats  into  our 
orphaned  hearts.  The  red  sun  burns  in  the  midst  of  a  hot 
summer,  but  us  it  keeps  not:  scarcely  does  it  warm  us,  O 
green  mother-grave !  Have  a  care  for  us,  mother  dear,  give 
us  a  word  of  kindness !  No,  thou  hast  hardened  thy  heart 
harder  than  stone,  and  hast  folded  thy  uncaressing  hand 
over  thy  heart. 

O  white  cyguet!  For  what  journey  hast  thou  prepared 
and  equipped  thyself;  from  which  side  may  we  expect  thee  ? 

Arise,  O  ye  wild  winds,  from  all  sides!  Be  borne,  O  winds, 
into  the  Church  of  God!  Sweep  open  the  moist  earth! 
Strike,  O  wild  winds,  on  the  great  bell !  Will  not  its  sounds 
and  mine  awaken  words  of  kindness  ? — From  Ralston' s  The 
Songs  of  the  Russian  People. 

CONJURATION  OF  A  MOTHER  SEPARATED 
FROM   HER   CHILD 

I,  poor  mother,  weep  in  the  high  chamber  of  my  house; 
from  the  dawn  I  look  afar  over  the  fields,  even  until  the  sun 
goes  to  rest.  There  I  sit  until  night,  till  the  damp  dew  falls; 
there  I  sit  in  grief,  until,  weary  of  this  torment,  I  resolve*to 
conjure  my  cruel  sorrow.  I  go  into  the  field;  I  have  taken 
the  nuptial  cup,  the  taper  of  betrothal  and  the  handkerchief 
of  marriage.  I  have  drawn  water  from  the  mountain  spring, 
I  have  gone  into  the  dark  forest,  and  tracing  around  me 
a  magic  circle,  I  have  said  aloud  these  words: — 

"  I  conjure  my  dearest  child  by  that  nuptial  cup,  by  that 
fresh  water  and  by  that  marriage  handkerchief.  With  that 
water  I  lave  his  fair  face,  with  that  handkerchief  I  wipe  his 
honeyed  lips,  his  sparkling  eyes,  his  rosy  cheeks,  his  thought- 
fill  brow;  with  that  waxen  taper  I  light  up  his  splendid 
garments,  his  sable  bonnet,  his  belt  of  divers  colours, 
his  embroidered  boots,  his  chestnut  locks,  his  noble  figure 
and  manly  limbs,  that  thou  mayest  be,  my  child,  more 
brilliant  than  the  brightest  sunbeams,  sweeter  to  look  upon 
than  a  sweet  spring  day,  fresher  than  water  from  the  fount- 
ain, whiter  than  the  wax,  stronger  than  the  magic  stone. 
Far  be  from  thee  the  demon  of  sorrow,  the  impetuous  hurri- 


Fairy  Tales  189 

cane,  the  one-eyed  spirit  of  the  woods,  the  domestic  demon 
of  strange  houses,  the  spirit  of  the  waters,  the  sorcery  of 
Kiev,  the  woman  of  the  twinkling  billows,  the  cursed  Baba- 
yagd,  the  winged  and  fiery  serpent,  the  crow  of  evil  omen. 
I  put  myself  between  thee  and  the  ogre,  the  false  magician, 
the  sorcerer,  the  evil  magic,  the  seeing  blind  and  the  old  of 
double  sight.  By  my  words  of  power,  may  thou  be,  my 
child,  by  night  and  by  day,  from  hour  to  moment,  in  the 
market-place,  and  asleep  or  in  watching,  safe  against  the 
power  of  the  evil  spirits,  against  death,  grief  and  calamity; 
upon  the  water,  against  shipwreck ;  in  fire,  against  burning. 

"When  thy  last  hour  shall  come,  recall,  my  child,  our 
tender  love,  our  bread  and  salt.  Turn  thyself  towards  thy 
glorious  country,  salute  it  seven  times — seven  times  with 
thy  face  to  the  earth,  bid  farewell  to  thy  family,  throw  thy- 
self upon  the  damp  ground  and  lull  thyself  to  a  calm  sleep. 

"  May  my  word  be  stronger  than  water,  higher  than  the 
mountain,  weightier  than  gold,  harder  than  rock,  stronger 
than  an  armed  horseman,  and  if  any  dare  to  bewitch  my 
child,  may  he  be  swallowed  by  Mount  Ararat,  in  bottomless 
precipices,  in  burning  tar  and  crackling  fire;  that  sorceries 
and  magic  may  for  ever  be  powerless  against  thee." — From 
The  Popular  Songs  of  Russia,  in  Hogg's  Instructor,  1855. 

Fairy  Tales. 

For  an  account  of  tiie  fairy  tales  see  the  chapter  on  Folklore.  The 
following  works,  of  which  Ralston's  is  still  the  best,  give  a  large 
number  of  such  stories :  Russian  Popular  Tales,  from  the  German 
version  of  Anton  Dietrich,  London,  1857  ;  W.  R.  S.  Ralston,  Russian 
Folk-Tales,  lyondon,  1873  '■>  J-  T.  Naake,  Slavonic  Fairy  Tales,  I/on- 
don,  1874  ;  E.  M,  S.  Hodgetts,  Tales  and  Legends  from  the  Land  of 
the  Tzar,  London,  1890 ;  Jeremiah  Curtin,  Myths  and  Folk  Tales  of 
the  Russians,  Western  Slavs  and  Magyars,  Boston,  1890 ;  A.  Gerber, 
Great  Russian  Animal  Tales  (vol.  vi.  No.  2  of  the  Publications  of 
the  Modern  Language  Association),  Baltimore,  1891  ;  R.  Nisbet  Bain, 
Russian  Fairy  Tales  from  the  Skazki  of  Polevoi,  Chicago,  1895. 
There  are  also  some  articles  in  periodicals :  Household  Tales  of  the 
Sclavonians  and  Hungarians,  and  The  Household  Fictions  of  Es- 
thonia  and  Russia,  in  Dublin  University  Magazine,  1867  (vol.  Ixx); 
Russian  Popular  Legends  (by  Ralston),  in  Fortnightly  Review,  1869  ; 
Russian  Songs  and  Folktales,  in  Quarterly  Review,  1874  (vol.  cxxxvi). 


190  The  Folklore 

FROST 

There  was  once  an  old  man  who  had  a  wife  and  three 
daughters.  The  wife  had  no  love  for  the  eldest  of  the  three, 
who  was  a  step-daughter,  but  was  always  scolding  her. 
Moreover,  she  used  to  make  her  get  up  ever  so  early  in  the 
morning,  and  gave  her  all  the  work  of  the  house  to  do.  Be- 
fore daybreak  the  girl  would  feed  the  cattle  and  give  them 
to  drink,  fetch  wood  and  water  indoors,  light  the  fire  in  the 
stove,  give  the  room  a  wash,  mend  the  dress  and  set  every- 
thing in  order.  Even  then  her  step-mother  was  never  satis- 
fied, but  grumbled  away  at  Mdrfa,  exclaiming: 

"  What  a  lazybones!  What  a  slut!  Why,  here  is  a  brush 
not  in  its  place,  and  there  is  something  put  wrong,  and  she 
has  left  the  muck  inside  the  house!  " 

The  girl  held  her  peace,  and  wept;  she  tried  in  every  way 
to  accommodate  herself  to  her  step-mother,  and  to  be  of  serv- 
ice to  her  step-sisters.  But  they,  taking  pattern  by  their 
mother,  were  always  insulting  Mdrfa,  quarrelling  with  her, 
and  making  her  cry :  that  was  even  a  pleasure  to  them  I  As 
for  them,  they  lay  in  bed  late,  washed  themselves  in  water 
got  ready  for  them,  dried  themselves  with  a  clean  towel 
and  did  not  sit  down  to  work  till  after  dinner. 

Well,  oiu"  girls  grew  and  grew,  until  they  grew  up  and 
were  old  enough  to  be  married.  The  old  man  felt  sorry  for 
his  eldest  daughter,  whom  he  loved  because  she  was  indus- 
trious and  obedient,  never  was  obstinate,  always  did  as  she 
was  bid  and  never  uttered  a  word  of  contradiction.  But  he 
did  not  know  how  to  help  her  in  her  trouble.  He  was  feeble, 
his  wife  was  a  scold  and  his  daughters  were  as  obstinate  as 
they  were  indolent. 

Well,  the  old  folks  set  to  work  to  consider — the  husband 
how  he  could  get  his  daughter  settled,  the  wife  how  she 
could  get  rid  of  the  eldest  one.     One  day  she  says  to  him : 

"  I  say,  old  man!     Let  's  get  Marfa  married." 

*'  Gladly,"  says  he,  slinking  off  (to  the  sleeping-place) 
above  the  stove.     But  his  wife  called  after  him: 

"  Get  up  early  to-morrow,  old  man,  harness  the  mare  to 


Fairy  Tales  191 

the  sledge  and  drive  away  with  Mdrfa.  And,  Mdrfa,  get 
your  things  together  in  a  basket,  and  put  on  a  clean  shift; 
you  are  going  away  to-morrow  on  a  visit." 

Poor  Mdrfa  was  delighted  to  hear  of  such  a  piece  of  good 
luck  as  being  invited  on  a  visit,  and  she  slept  comfortably 
all  night.  Early  next  morning  she  got  up,  washed  herself, 
prayed  to  God,  got  all  her  things  together,  packed  them 
away  in  proper  order,  dressed  herself  (in  her  best  things) 
and  looked  something  like  a  lass!  a  bride  fit  for  any  place 
whatsoever ! 

Now  it  was  winter-time,  and  out  of  doors  there  was  a 
rattling  frost.  Early  in  the  morning,  between  daybreak  and 
sunrise,  the  old  man  harnessed  the  mare  to  the  sledge,  and 
led  it  up  to  the  steps,  then  he  went  indoors,  sat  down  in  the 
window-sill,  and  said: 

"  Now  then!     I  have  got  everything  ready." 

"  Sit  down  to  table  and  swallow  your  victuals!  "  replied 
the  old  woman. 

The  old  man  sat  down  to  table,  and  made  his  daughter  sit 
by  his  side.  On  the  table  stood  a  pannier;  he  took  out  a 
loaf,  and  cut  bread  for  himself  and  his  daughter.  Meantime 
his  wife  served  up  a  dish  of  old  cabbage  soup  and  said: 

"  There,  my  pigeon,  eat  and  be  oflf;  I  have  looked  at  you 
quite  enough!  Drive  Mdrfa  to  her  bridegroom,  old  man. 
And  look  here,  old  greybeard!  drive  straight  along  the  road 
at  first,  and  then  turn  off  from  the  road  to  the  right,  you 
know,  into  the  forest — right  up  to  the  big  pine  that  stands 
on  the  hill,  and  there  hand  Mdrfa  to  Morozko  (Frost)." 

The  old  man  opened  his  eyes  wide,  also  his  mouth,  and 
stopped  eating,  and  the  girl  began  lamenting. 

"  Now  then,  what  are  you  hanging  your  chaps  and  squeal- 
ing about  ?  ' '  said  her  step-mother.  * '  Surely  your  bride- 
groom is  a  beauty,  and  he  is  that  rich!  Why,  just  see  what 
a  lot  of  things  belong  to  him:  the  firs,  the  pine-tops  and  the 
birches,  all  in  their  robes  of  down — ways  and  means  anyone 
might  envy;  and  he  himself  a  bogatyr!  " 

The  old  man  silently  placed  the  things  on  the  sledge, 
made  his  daughter  put  on  her  warm  pelisse  and  set  off  on 


19*  The  Folklore 

the  journey.  After  a  time,  he  reached  the  forest,  turned  off 
the  road  and  drove  across  the  frozen  snow.  When  he  got 
into  the  depths  of  the  forest,  he  stopped,  made  his  daughter 
get  out,  laid  her  basket  under  the  tall  pine  and  said: 

"  Sit  here,  and  await  the  bridegroom.  And  mind  you 
receive  him  as  pleasantly  as  you  can!  " 

Then  he  turned  his  horse  round  and  drove  ofi  homewards. 

The  girl  sat  and  shivered.  The  cold  pierced  her  through. 
She  would  fain  have  cried  aloud,  but  she  had  not  strength 
enough;  only  her  teeth  chattered.  Suddenly  she  heard  a 
sound.  Not  far  ofiF,  Frost  was  cracking  away  on  a  fir. 
From  fir  to  fir  was  he  leaping  and  snapping  his  fingers. 
Presently  he  appeared  on  that  very  pine  under  which  the 
maiden  was  sitting,  and  from  above  her  head  he  cried; 

"Art  thou  warm,  maiden  ?  " 

"  Warm,  warm  am  I,  dear  father  Frost,"  she  replied. 

Frost  began  to  descend  lower,  all  the  more  cracking  and 
snapping  his  fingers.     To  the  maiden  said  Frost : 

"Art  thou  warm,  maiden  ?     Art  thou  warm,  fair  one  ?  " 

The  girl  could  scarcely  draw  her  breath,  but  still  she 
replied : 

"  Warm  am  I,  Frost  dear;  warm  am  I,  father  dear!  ** 

Frost  began  cracking  more  than  ever,  and  more  loudly  did 
he  snap  his  fingers,  and  to  the  maiden  he  said: 

"Art  thou  warm,  maiden  ?  Art  thou  warm,  pretty  one  ? 
Art  thou  warm,  my  darling  ?  " 

The  girl  was  by  this  time  numbed  with  cold,  and  she 
could  scarcely  make  herself  heard  as  she  replied; 

"  Oh !     Quite  warm,  Frost  dearest ! ' ' 

Then  Frost  took  pity  on  the  girl,  wrapped  her  up  in  furs 
and  warmed  her  with  blankets. 

Next  morning  the  old  woman  said  to  her  husband: 

"  Drive  out,  old  greybeard,  and  wake  the  young  people!  ** 

The  old  man  harnessed  his  horse  and  drove  off.  When 
he  came  to  where  his  daughter  was,  he  found  she  was  alive 
and  had  got  a  good  pelisse,  a  costly  bridal  veil  and  a  pannier 
with  rich  gifts.  He  stowed  everything  away  on  the  sledge 
without  saying  a  word,  took  a  seat  on  it  with  his  daughter, 


Fairy  Tales  193 

and  drove  back.  They  reached  home,  and  the  daughter  fell 
at  her  step-mother' s  feet.  The  old  woman  was  thunderstruck 
when  she  saw  the  girl  alive,  and  the  new  pelisse  and  the 
basket  of  linen. 

"Ah,  you  wretch!  "  she  cries.'  'But  you  sha' n't  trick  me!  " 

Well,  a  little  later  the  old  woman  says  to  her  husband: 

"  Take  my  daughters,  too,  to  their  bridegroom.  The 
presents  he  's  made  are  nothing  to  what  he  '11  give  them." 

Well,  early  next  morning  the  old  woman  gave  her  girls 
their  breakfast,  dressed  them  as  befitted  brides  and  sent 
them  off  on  their  journey.  In  the  same  way  as  before  the 
old  man  left  the  girls  under  the  pine. 

There  the  girls  sat,  and  kept  laughing  and  saying: 

"  Whatever  is  mother  thinking  of?  All  of  a  sudden  to 
marry  both  of  us  off !  As  if  there  were  no  lads  in  our  village, 
forsooth!  Some  rubbishy  fellow  may  come,  and  goodness 
knows  who  he  may  be!  " 

The  girls  were  wrapped  up  in  pelisses,  but  for  all  that  they 
felt  the  cold. 

"I  say,  Prask6vya!  The  Frost  's  skinning  me  alive. 
Well,  if  our  bridegroom  does  n't  come  quick,  we  shall  be 
frozen  to  death  here !  " 

"  Don't  go  talking  nonsense,  Mdshka;  as  if  suitors  turned 
up  in  the  forenoon!     Why,  it 's  hardly  dinner-time  yet!  " 

' '  But  I  say,  Praskovya !  If  only  one  comes,  which  of  us 
will  he  take?" 

' '  Not  you,  you  stupid  goose ! ' ' 

"  Then  it  will  be  you,  I  suppose!  " 

"  Of  course,  it  will  be  me!  " 

"You,  indeed!  There  now,  have  done  talking  stuff  and 
treating  people  like  fools ! ' ' 

Meanwhile,  Frost  had  numbed  the  girls'  hands,  so  our 
damsels  folded  them  under  their  dresses,  and  then  went  on 
quarrelling  as  before. 

"What,  you  fright!  You  sleepy  face !  You  abominable 
shrew!  Why,  you  don't  know  so  much  as  how  to  begin 
weaving;  and  as  to  going  on  with  it,  you  have  n't  an  idea!  " 

"Aha,  boaster!    And  what  is  it  you  know  ?    Why,  nothing 

VOL.  I.— 13. 


194  The  Folklore 

at  all  except  to  go  out  merrymaking  and  lick  your  lips  there. 
We  '11  soon  see  which  he  '11  take  first!  " 

While  the  girls  went  on  scolding  like  that,  they  began  to 
freeze  in  downright  earnest.  Suddenly  they  both  cried  out 
at  once: 

"  Whyever  is  he  so  long  coming  ?  You  know,  you  have 
turned  quite  blue!  " 

Now,  a  good  way  off,  Frost  had  begun  cracking,  snap- 
ping his  fingers  and  leaping  from  fir  to  fir.  To  the  girls  it 
sounded  as  if  someone  were  coming. 

"  Ivisten,  Prask6vya!  He  's  coming  at  last,  with  bells, 
too!" 

"  Get  along  with  you !  I  won't  listen;  my  skin  is  pealing 
with  cold." 

"And  yet  you  're  still  expecting  to  get  married!  " 

Then  they  began  blowing  their  fingers. 

Nearer  and  nearer  came  Frost.  At  length  he  appeared  on 
the  pine,  above  the  heads  of  the  girls,  and  said  to  them: 

"Are  ye  warm,  maidens?  Are  ye  warm,  pretty  ones? 
Are  ye  warm,  my  darlings  ?  ' ' 

"  Oh,  Frost,  it  's  awfully  cold!  We  are  utterly  perished! 
We  're  expecting  a  bridegroom,  but  the  confounded  fellow 
has  disappeared." 

Frost  slid  lower  down  the  tree,  cracked  away  more, 
snapped  his  fingers  oftener  than  before. 

"  Are  ye  warm,  maidens  ?    Are  ye  warm,  pretty  ones  ?  " 

"  Get  along  with  you!  Are  you  blind,  that  you  can't  see 
our  hands  and  feet  are  quite  dead  ?  " 

Still  lower  descended  Frost,  still  more  put  forth  his  might 
and  said: 

"  Are  ye  warm,  maidens  ?  " 

"  Into  the  bottomless  pit  with  you!  Out  of  my  sight,  ac- 
cursed one!  "  cried  the  girls — and  became  lifeless  forms. 

Next  morning  the  old  woman  said  to  her  husband: 

"  Old  man,  go  and  get  the  sledge  harnessed;  put  an  arm- 
ful of  hay  in  it,  and  take  some  sheepskin  wraps.  I  dare  say 
the  girls  are  half  dead  with  cold.  There  is  a  terrible  frost 
outside!     And,  mind  you,  old  greybeard,  do  it  quickly!  " 


Fairy  Tales  195 

Before  the  old  man  could  manage  to  get  a  bite,  he  was  out 
of  doors  and  on  his  way.  When  he  came  to  where  his 
daughters  were,  he  found  them  dead.  So  he  lifted  the  girls 
on  the  sledge,  wrapped  a  blanket  round  them  and  covered 
them  up  with  a  bark  mat.  The  old  woman  saw  him  from 
afar,  ran  out  to  meet  him  and  called  out  ever  so  loud: 

"  Where  are  my  girls  ?  " 

"In  the  sledge." 

The  old  woman  lifted  the  mat,  undid  the  blanket  and 
found  the  girls  both  dead. 

Then,  like  a  thunder-storm,  she  broke  out  against  her 
husband,  abusing  him  and  saying : 

' '  What  have  you  done,  you  old  wretch  ?  You  have  de- 
stroyed my  daughters,  the  children  of  my  own  flesh,  my 
never-to-be-gazed-on  seedlings,  my  beautiful  berries!  I  will 
thrash  you  with  the  tongs;  I  will  give  it  you  with  the  stove- 
rake." 

"  That  *s  enough,  you  old  goose!  You  flattered  yourself 
you  were  going  to  get  riches,  but  your  daughters  were  too 
stiff-necked.  How  was  I  to  blame?  It  was  you  yourself 
would  have  it." 

The  old  woman  was  in  a  rage  at  first,  and  used  bad  lan- 
guage; but  afterwards  she  made  it  up  with  her  step-daughter, 
and  they  all  lived  together  peaceably,  and  thrived,  and  bore 
no  malice.  A  neighbour  made  an  offer  of  marriage,  the 
wedding  was  celebrated  and  Marfa  is  now  living  happily. 
The  old  man  frightens  his  grandchildren  with  (stories  about) 
Frost,  and  does  not  let  them  have  their  own  way. — From  W. 
R.  S  Ralston's  Russian  Folk-  Tales. 

THE  CAT,  THE  GOAT  AND  THE  RAM 

Once  upon  a  time  there  lived  in  a  yard  a  Goat  and  a  Ram, 
and  they  lived  in  great  friendship  with  each  other:  say  there 
was  but  a  bunch  of  hay — even  that  they  divided  in  two 
equal  halves.  If  there  was  anyone  to  be  punched  in  his 
sides,  it  was  only  Tom-Cat  Vaska ;  he  was  such  a  thief  and 
robber, — always  on  the  lookout  for  prey,  and  let  there  be 


196  The  Folklore 

anything  not  under  lock,  his  stomach  immediately  growled 
for  it. 

The  Goat  and  the  Ram  were  once  lying  quietly  and 
having  a  friendly  chat,  when  who  should  turn  up  but  grey- 
browed,  Purring  Vdska,  and  he  was  whining  pitifully.  So 
the  Goat  and  Ram  asked  him: 

"  Kitty-Cat,  grey-browed  Cat,  why  are  you  whining  so, 
and  why  do  you  hop  about  on  three  legs  ?  ' ' 

"How  can  I  help  crying?  The  old  woman  has  beaten 
me;  she  struck  me  hard,  almost  pulled  my  ears  out,  nearly 
broke  my  legs,  and  came  very  near  choking  my  life  out  of 
me." 

"  What  have  you  been  guilty  of,  to  deserve  such  a  fate  ?  " 

"All  the  trouble  was,  I  was  hungry,  and  lapped  up  the 
cream."     And  the  Purring  Cat  once  more  began  to  whine. 

"Kitty-Cat,  grey-browed  Cat!  What  are  you  whining 
about?" 

"  How  can  I  help  crying?  As  the  old  woman  was  beat- 
ing me,  she  kept  on  saying:  '  Where  shall  I  get  the  cream 
when  my  son-in-law  will  come  to-morrow  ?  I  '11  have  to 
butcher  the  Goat  and  the  Ram! '  " 

The  Goat  and  the  Ram  howled  loud :  "  O  you  grey  Cat, 
senseless  head!  Why  have  you  ruined  us?  We'll  butt 
you  to  death!" 

Then  Purring  Vdska  humbly  confessed  his  guilt  and 
begged  forgiveness.  They  forgave  him,  and  the  three  held 
a  council  of  how  matters  stood  and  what  was  to  be  done. 

"  Well,  middle  brother  Ram,"  asked  Purring  Cat,  "  have 
you  a  tough  head  ?    Just  try  it  against  the  gate!  " 

The  Ram  took  a  run  and  hit  the  gate  with  his  head:  the 
gate  shook,  but  did  not  open.  Then  rose  the  elder  brother 
Billy-Goat,  took  a  run,  hit  the  gate  and  it  flew  open. 

The  dust  rose  in  a  cloud,  the  grass  bent  to  the  ground, 
while  the  Goat  and  Ram  were  running,  and  the  g^y-browed 
Cat  was  hopping  after  them  on  three  legs.  He  grew  tired, 
and  he  begged  his  plighted  brothers:  "  Elder  brother  and 
middle  brother!  Don't  abandon  your  younger  brother  a 
prey  to  the  wild  beasts!  '* 


Fairy  Tales  197 

So  the  Goat  stopped  and  took  him  on  his  back,  and  again 
they  raced  over  hills,  and  vales,  and  drifting  sands.  And 
they  came  to  a  steep  hill  and  a  standstill.  Under  that 
steep  hill  was  a  mowed  meadow,  and  on  that  meadow  there 
was  a  whole  town  of  haystacks.  The  Goat,  and  Ram,  and 
Cat  stopped  to  take  a  rest;  it  was  a  cold  autumn  night. 
Where  were  they  to  get  some  fire  ?  The  Goat  and  the  Ram 
were  still  thinking  about  it,  when  the  Purring  Cat  got  some 
twigs  with  which  he  tied  the  Goat's  horns,  and  he  told  the 
Goat  and  the  Ram  to  strike  each  other's  heads.  They  hit 
each  other  with  such  a  might  that  sparks  flew  from  their 
eyes:  the  twigs  crackled. 

"  That  '11  do,"  said  the  grey  Cat.  "  Now  we  will  warm 
ourselves. ' '     No  sooner  said  than  he  put  a  haystack  on  fire. 

They  had  not  yet  gotten  warm,  when  lo !  there  was  an  un- 
called guest,  a  Peasant-in-gabardine,  Mikhaylo  Ivanovich. 
"  I^et  me,"  he  said,  "  warm  myself  and  take  a  rest;  I  don't 
feel  well." 

"You  are  welcome,  Peasant-in-gabardine,  Ant-eater! 
Good  fellow,  where  do  you  come  from  ?  ' ' 

"  I  went  to  the  beehives  and  had  a  fight  with  the  peasants; 
so  I  am  sick  now,  and  I  am  on  my  way  to  the  Fox  to  get 
cured." 

They  passed  the  dark  night  together:  the  Bear  under  a 
haystack.  Purring  Vaska  on  the  haystack,  and  the  Goat  and 
the  Ram  by  the  fire. 

"Ugh,  ugh!"  said  the  White  Wolf,  "  it  is  not  Russian 
flesh  I  smell.  What  manner  of  people  may  they  be  ?  I 
must  find  out!  " 

The  Goat  and  the  Ram  bleated  ^th  fright,  and  Purring 
Vdska  held  such  discourse:  "  I,isten,  White  Wolf,  Prince 
of  all  the  wolves!  Don't  anger  our  eldest  one,  for  if  he 
should  get  at  you,  it  will  be  your  end.  Don't  you  see  his 
beard  ?  that  's  where  his  strength  lies.  With  his  beard  he 
strikes  down  the  animals,  but  with  his  horns  he  only  flays 
them.  You  had  better  ask  him  with  due  respect  to  let  you 
have  your  fun  with  your  younger  brother  that  is  lying  under 
the  haystack." 


igS  The  Folklore 

So  the  wolves  bowed  to  the  Goat,  and  surrounded  Mishka, 
and  began  to  tease  him.  He  got  up,  waxed  angry  and  just 
grabbed  a  wolf  with  each  paw ;  they  howled  their  ' '  Laza- 
rus," but  somehow  managed  to  get  away  with  drooping 
tails,  and  they  raced  as  fast  as  their  feet  would  carry  them. 

In  the  meanwhile  the  Goat  and  the  Ram  seized  the  Cat,  and 
ran  into  the  woods,  where  they  once  more  met  some  grey 
wolves.  The  Cat  crawled  up  to  the  top  of  a  pine-tree,  and 
the  Goat  and  the  Ram  got  hold  of  a  branch  of  the  pine-tree 
with  their  fore  legs,  and  hung  down  from  it.  The  wolves 
stood  under  the  tree,  grinned  and  howled,  watching  the 
Goat  and  the  Ram.  The  grey-browed  Cat  saw  that  things 
were  very  bad,  so  he  began  to  throw  down  pine  cones  upon 
the  wolves,  and  kept  saying:  "  One  wolf!  Two  wolves! 
Three  wolves!  Just  a  wolf  apiece.  It  is  not  so  long  ago  I, 
Purring  Vaska,  ate  up  two  wolves  with  all  their  bones,  so  I 
am  not  hungry  yet;  but  you,  big  brother,  have  been  out 
a-hunting  bears,  and  you  did  not  get  any,  so  you  may  have 
my  share!  " 

Just  as  he  said  that,  the  Goat  could  not  hold  on  any 
longer,  and  dropped  with  his  horns  straight  down  on  a  wolf. 
But  Purring  Vdska  j^elled  out:  "  Hold  him,  catch  him!" 
The  wolves  were  so  frightened  that  they  started  on  a  run, 
and  did  not  dare  look  back.     That  was  the  last  of  them. 

THE  FOX  AND  THE  PEASANT 

Once  upon  an  eveniiig  the  Fox,  feeling  grieved,  took  a 
walk  to  divert  herself  and  breathe  the  fresh  air.  Though 
she  had  not  expected  it,  there  presented  itself  an  opportunity 
to  have  her  revenge,  for  whom  should  she  see  but  Vukol  in 
his  cart  I  As  she  scented  some  fish,  she  decided  to  steal  them. 
The  question  now  was  how  to  steal  them  out  of  Vukol's  cart. 
Of  course,  it  was  too  risky  to  crawl  in,  for  Vukol  would  lay 
on  his  whip,  or,  catching  her  by  her  tail,  would  kill  her  al- 
together. So  lyisa  Patriky^evna  softly  ran  all  around  the 
Peasant,  who  was  hastening  home,  lay  down  on  the  ground 
and  barely  breathed.  The  rogue  lay  there  as  it  she  really 
were  dead :  her  mouth  open,  her  teeth  grinning,  her  snout 


Proverbs  '        199 

turned  upwards,  her  nose  flabby;  she  neither  moved,  nor 
heaved,  nor  wagged  her  tail. 

Vukol  was  travelling  at  a  slow  pace,  when  suddenly  his 
nag  neighed.  "  What  's  the  matter?  "  spoke  Vukol,  rose 
and  looked  down  the  road.  ' '  Oh,  I  see !  God  has  sent  me 
a  nice  gift.  I  '11  pick  it  up;  it  will  be  a  fine  thing  for  my 
wife,  for  its  fur  is  as  soft  as  a  shawl."  Having  very  wisely 
discussed  thus,  Vukol  took  the  Fox  by  the  tail  and  put  her 
on  the  fish,  and  went  over  the  bridge.  But  Lisa  Patrik- 
yeevna  was  very  happy  and,  to  carry  out  the  first  part  of  her 
program,  quietly  devoured  a  good-sized  tench;  then  she 
started  dropping  one  fish  after  another  on  the  road,  until 
she  had  emptied  the  whole  cart.  Then  she  stealthily 
dropped  down  from  the  cart  herself  and  started  on  a  run 
without  turning  back,  so  that  the  dust  flew  up. 

It  grew  dark,  and  murky  night  was  near;  Vukol  Silych 
pulled  his  reins,  and  the  horse  raced  faster.  He  reached  his 
house,  without  discovering  the  theft,  and,  smiling  to  his  wife, 
he  said  with  a  merry  voice  to  her:  "  Woman,  just  look  into 
the  cart  and  see  what  I  have  brought  you !  I  found  it  in 
the  road,  near  the  bridge,  by  the  pines  and  birches." 

His  wife  Ddrya  rummaged  in  the  hay,  tossed  it  to  and  fro, 
hoping  to  find  her  present.  * '  Where  is  it  ?  What  a  shame ! '  * 
She  turned  everything  upside  down,  shook  the  fish  bag,  but 
she  only  got  her  hands  dirty, — the  present  she  did  not  find. 
Put  'out  about  such  a  deception,  she  said  to  her  husband, 
Vukol:  "  What  a  stupid  you  are!  " 

In  the  meantime  Patriky6evna  carried  all  the  fish  to  her 
lair,  and  she  had  an  easy  time  of  it  all  autumn,  and  even 
winter.  But  this  revenge  is  insignificant:  her  greater  re- 
venge is  still  ahead.  Things  are  bad  for  you,  Vdkol  Silych ! 
Be  prepared  for  the  worst. 

Proverbs. 

The  first  collection  of  Russian  proverbs  was  made  by  the  poet 
Bogdan6vich,  at  Catherine's  command.  The  most  extensive  collec- 
tion of  the  present  time  is  the  one  by  Dal.  In  the  English  language 
there  are  but  two  small  accounts  of  these  proverbs :  one,  in  R. 


200  The  Folklore 

Pinkerton's  Russia  ;  or.  Miscellaneous  Observations  on  the  Past  and 
Present  of  the  Country  and  its  Inhabitants,  London,  1833,  and  Jius- 
sian  Proverbs,  in  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  czxzix. 

The  heart  has  ears. 

Home  is  a  full  cup. 

A  maideu's  heart  is  a  dark  forest. 

Calumny  is  like  a  coal:  if  it  does  not  bum  it  will  soil. 

Good  luck  disappears  like  our  curls;  bad  luck  lasts  like 
our  nails. 

Sorrow  kills  not,  but  it  blights. 

The  pine  stands  afar,  but  whispers  to  its  own  forest. 

Blame  not  my  bast  shoes,  my  boots  are  in  the  sledge. 

The  poor  man  has  a  sheepskin  coat,  but  a  human  soul 
too. 

Behind  the  orphan  God  Himself  bears  a  purse. 

Poverty  is  not  a  sin,  but  twice  as  bad. 

Seven  nurses  cost  the  child  an  eye. 

May  God  make  me  fleshy :  rosiuess  I  can  get  for  myself. 

A  dog  is  wiser  than  a  woman:  it  does  not  bark  at  its 
master. 

Seven  axes  will  lie  together,  but  two  spindles  asunder. 

Let  a  woman  into  Paradise,  she  '11  be  for  bringing  her  cow 
with  her. 

The  Holy  Russian  land  is  large,  but  everywhere  the  dear 
sun  shines. 

Our  stove  is  our  own  mother. 

Not  corners  but  pies  make  a  room  fair. 

Even  bad  kvas  is  better  than  water. 

By  that  which  wounded  may  your  wound  be  cured. 

Black  may  be  toil,  but  white  is  its  price. 

God  waits  long,  but  hits  hard. 

Terrible  are  dreams,  but  God  is  merciful. 

God  is  high,  and  the  Tsar  far  off. 

Pray  to  God,  but  row  to  shore. 

The  wolf  catches  the  destined  sheep. 

Be  born  neither  wise  nor  fair,  but  lucky. 

Moustaches  for  honour,  but  even  a  goat  has  a  beard. 

An  old  crow  croaks  not  for  nothing. 


Proverbs  201 

Love  your  wife  like  your  soul,  and  beat  her  like  your  fur 
coat. 

Not  long  hurt  the  bumps  from  a  loved  one's  thumps. 

A  wife  is  not  a  guitar;   when  your  playing  is  done,  you 
can't  hang  her  up  on  the  wall. 

It  's  a  bore  to  go  alone,  even  to  get  drowned. 

A  parent's  blessing  can  neither  be  drowned  in  water  nor 
constuned  in  fire. 

A  visible  girl  is  of  copper,  but  an  invisible  one  of  silver. 

Hold  out,  Cossack;  thou  wilt  become  Hetman. 

He  who  sweats  afield,  and  prays  to  God  at  home,  will 
never  starve. 

Boldness  drinks  mead  and  chafes  fetters. 

A  bad  peace  is  better  than  a  good  quarrel. 

If  the  thunder  rolls  not,  the  muzhik  will  not  cross  himself. 

Don't  beat  the  muzhik  with  a  cudgel,  but  beat  him  with  a 
rouble. 

To  rotten  wares  the  seller  is  blind. 

A  snipe  is  small,  but,  for  all  that,  a  bird. 

Fear  not  the  threats  of  the  rich  but  the  tears  of  the  poor. 

Drink  at  table,  not  behind  a  pillar. 

Who  can  withstand  God  and  Novgorod  the  Great  ? 

Where  there  is  an  oath,  there  is  also  a  crime. 

God's  will  and  the  Tsar's  decree. 

The  Tsar's  wrath  is  the  messenger  of  death. 

God  loves  the  just,  but  judges  love  the  pettifogger. 

I  bailed  him  out:  he  taught  me  a  lesson. 

The  knout  is  not  the  devil,  but  it  will  seek  out  the  truth. 

Wide  is  the  gateway  leading  into  a  boydr's  court,  but 
narrow — out  of  it. 

Slavery  drinks  mead,  and  freedom  water. 

— From  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  cxxxix. 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 


203 


THE  EIGHTEENTH  CENTURY 
Ivdn  Tikh6novich  Pososhk6v.    (1670-1726.) 

An  interesting  figure  that  belongs  both  to  the  old  and  the  new 
regime  is  Pososhk6v.  He  was  the  son  of  a  peasant  and  had  received 
no  other  education  than  what  he  could  pick  up  from  the  reading  of 
church  books.  He  also  acquired  a  knowledge  of  arithmetic,  a  rare 
science  for  the  men  of  the  older  generation,  and  of  gframmar,  and 
much  practical  experience  in  his  wanderings  through  Russia.  Being 
a  good  business  man  and  a  close  observer  of  current  events,  he  became 
very  rich,  owned  several  factories,  and  carried  on  commerce  on  a  large 
scale.  He  had  brought  from  his  peasant  home  the  religious  piety  of 
the  old  order  of  things,  but  at  the  same  time  was  shrewd  enough  to 
see  the  advantages  of  reform,  which  he  favoured  to  the  best  of  his 
ability.  His  son  was  among  the  first  Russians  who  were  sent  abroad 
to  be  instructed.  He  provided  him  with  ample  means  and  a  written 
Father's  Testament  to  his  Son,  with  a  Moral,  in  Confirmation  of 
Holy  Writ.  This  Testament  belongs  in  the  same  category  as  the 
Domostrby  (see  p.  126),  but  the  spirit  of  reform  has  softened  many 
of  the  ancient  crudities.  Of  his  other  works  the  most  interesting  is 
his  The  Book  on  Poverty  and  Wealth,  That  is.  An  Exposition  of 
what  Causes  Dire  Poverty  and  Abundantly  Increases  Wealth,  which 
is  characteristic  of  the  transitional  stage  of  Russia.  In  this  work, 
Pososhk6v  combines  shrewd  guesses  on  economic  problems  with 
crude  conceptions  of  their  solution. 

"THE  BOOK  ON  POVERTY  AND  WEAI^TH" 

PROM  THE  CHAPTER  "  ON  MERCHANTS" 

THE  merchant  guild  must  not  be  disregarded,  for  without 
merchants  no  country,  neither  large  nor  small,  can 
exist.  The  merchant  is  the  companion  of  the  military:  the 
soldier  fights,  and  the  merchant  aids  him  by  furnishing  him 

205 


2o6  The  Eighteenth  Century 

with  all  tbe  necessaries.  For  this  reason  an  unstinted  care 
should  be  bestowed  upon  them,  for  as  the  soul  cannot  exist 
without  a  body,  even  so  the  soldier  cannot  get  along  without 
the  merchant;  nor  can  the  merchant  get  along  without  the 
soldier.  A  country  expands  through  the  profession  of  war, 
and  is  beautified  through  commerce.  Consequently  the 
merchants  must  be  protected  against  ofiFenders,  so  that  they 
receive  not  the  least  insult  from  government  officials.  Many 
unthinking  people  disdain  the  merchants,  loathe  them  and 
oflFend  them  without  provocation,  and  yet  there  is  no  condi- 
tion of  life  which  can  get  along  without  the  merchant. 

But  the  merchants  must  be  guarded  not  only  against  out- 
side offenders  :  they  must  not  interfere  with  each  other 
as  well,  and  men  from  other  ranks  must  not  enter  the  mer- 
chant guild  and  thus  cause  them  no  end  of  disturbance. 
Commerce  should  be  free,  so  that  they  themselves  may  be 
benefited  and  the  interests  of  his  Imperial  Highness  be 
guarded. 

If  commerce  were  free  for  the  Russian  merchants,  and 
neither  men  from  other  ranks  nor  foreigners  would  in  the 
least  impair  the  commerce  of  Russians,  the  revenue  would 
be  increased.  I  am  of  the  opinion  that  without  changing 
the  duties,  the  revenue  would  be  doubled  or  trebled,  whereas 
now  the  greater  half  is  lost  through  the  traders  from  the 
other  ranks. 

If  a  person  belonging  to  some  other  rank,  whether  he  be 
senator,  or  officer,  or  nobleman,  or  government  official,  or 
clerical,  or  peasant,  should  wish  to  carry  on  commerce,  let 
him  leave  his  former  rank  and  join  the  merchant  guild,  and 
trade  in  a  straightforward  manner,  and  not  by  stealth,  and 
pay  his  duties  and  other  merchant  taxes,  and  let  him  never 
again  do  anything  by  stealth,  as  before,  without  consent  of 
the  Merchant  Commander,  and  escape  the  paying  of  imposts. 

Every  rank  must  behave  in  such  a  manner  as  not  to  sin 
before  God  and  do  wrong  before  the  Tsar;  and  they  should 
live  as  is  their  profession :  if  one  be  a  soldier,  let  him  be  a 
,  soldier,  and  if  he  have  another  vocation,  let  him  devote  him- 
self entirely  to  that  vocation. 


Ivcin  Tikh6novich  Pososhk6v         207 

Our  Lord  Himself  has  said:  No  man  can  serve  two  mas- 
ters. So  let  the  soldier,  or  man  of  another  rank,  stay  in  his 
profession,  and  let  him  not  enter  into  another  rank,  for  if  he 
devote  himself  to  commerce,  he  will  curtail  his  military 
duties.  The  I^ord  Himself  has  said :  Where  your  treasure 
is,  there  will  be  your  heart  also.  And  St.  Paul  the  apostle 
has  said  that  no  soldier  can  find  favour  with  his  captain  who 
meddles  with  commerce.  There  is  a  popular  saw  which 
says.  Choose  one  or  the  other,  war  or  commerce. 

For  these  reasons  it  does  not  behoove  the  soldier  or  man 
of  another  rank  to  trade.  If,  however,  he  have  a  desire  to 
become  a  merchant,  let  him  join  the  guild. 

If  there  be  no  prohibition  for  external  merchants,  from 
the  ranks  of  the  nobles,  ofl&cers  or  peasants,  the  merchants 
will  not  be  able  to  become  enriched,  and  it  will  not  be  pos- 
sible for  the  revenue  to  be  increased. 

.  .  .  At  the  present  time  boydrs,  noblemen  and  their 
people,  soldiers  and  peasants  carry  on  commerce,  without 
paying  any  tax,  and  many  merchants  carry  on  trade  in  their 
names,  and  pay  no  tax.  Not  half  the  revenue  is  collected, 
nor  ever  can  be  collected,  if  commerce  is  not  to  be  made  free 
from  the  nobles  and  officials,  since  many  mighty  people  have 
taken  to  trade,  and  some  who  are  not  themselves  powerful 
but  are  not  subject  to  the  magistrate. 

I  know,  for  example,  one  case  in  a  N6vgorod  county  where 
there  are  a  hundred  or  two  of  merchant-peasants,  and  who  do 
not  pay  a  farthing's  worth  of  taxes.  And  if  a  collector,  see- 
ing them,  tries  to  collect  the  revenue,  the  gentry  take  the 
peasant's  part  and  send  the  collector  away  more  dead  than 
alive,  and  the  government  officers  look  on,  and  dare  not  in- 
terfere. And  there  are  some  wealthy  men,  who  have  some 
five  or  six  hundred  peasants  carrying  on  such  illicit  trade, 
and  pay  not  a  farthing  to  the  Great  Tsar.  If  all  be  arranged 
as  I  have  proposed,  commerce  will  awaken  as  if  from  a 
dream. 

It  is  a  very  bad  custom  the  merchant  people  have,  to  do 
each  other  wrong  by  cheating  each  other.  Both  foreigners 
and  Russians  are  in  the  habit  of  showing  good-looking  wares 


2o8  The  Eighteenth  Century 

that  are  badly  made  within  or  filled  up  with  bad  stuff;  or  bad 
wares  are  mixed  with  wares  of  a  good  quality  and  are  sold 
as  if  of  good  quality,  taking  for  them  an  unfair  price,  and 
greatly  deceiving  inexperienced  people.  They  give  wrong 
weights  and  measures,  deceive  in  price,  and  do  not  think  all 
that  to  be  a  sin,  although  they  cause  so  much  injustice  to 
the  inexperienced.  Yet  those  who  deceive  are  in  the  end 
ruined  through  their  own  iniquity,  and  become  impoverished. 

...  In  order  to  establish  justice  in  the  Merchant  Rows, 
let  there  be  appointed  hundred-men  and  fifty-men  and  ten- 
men,  and  over  the  shop  where  there  is  an  hundred-man  let 
there  be  nailed  a  round  board,  painted  white,  so  that  it 
can  be  easily  seen,  and  on  that  board  let  there  be  written 
"  hundred-man."  Do  the  same  with  the  shop  of  the  fifty- 
man  and  ten-man,  so  that  those  who  purchase  any  goods 
may  know  where  to  show  their  wares,  if  they  should  want 
to  find  out  whether  they  have  received  the  right  weight,  or 
measure,  or  whether  the  wares  are  good  or  bad,  and  whether 
they  have  paid  the  correct  price  for  them. 

If  a  merchant  have  received  more  than  the  worth  of  the 
wares,  let  him  be  fined  a  dime  or  two  for  every  unfair 
kopek,  and  let  him  be  beaten  with  rods  or  a  whip,  that  he 
may  not  do  so  again  in  the  future;  and  if  he  repeat  his 
offence,  let  the  fine  and  punishment  be  increased. 

But  if  one  give  wrong  measure  and  weight,  or  sell  differ- 
ent goods  from  what  the  buyer  demanded,  and  give  him  in- 
ferior goods,  let  his  punishment  be  much  more  severe,  and 
the  fine  be  ten  times  the  price  of  the  goods. 

And  if  an  hundred-man,  or  fifty-man,  or  ten-man  be  guilty 
of  such  a  transgression,  let  the  fine  for  the  ten-man  be  ten- 
fold, for  the  fifty-man  fiftyfold,  and  for  the  hundred-man 
hundredfold,  and  let  the  punishment  be  with  the  knout,  as 
many  strokes  as  may  be  decided  upon.  The  hundred-men 
and  fifty-men  should  receive  very  stringent  instructions  to 
watch  without  relenting  the  ten-men  and  not  to  be  indulgent 
to  them,  but  to  fear  the  law  like  fire,  lest  their  transgres- 
sions reach  the  ears  of  high  personages.  And  the  ten-men 
should  watch  all  the  shops  under  their  charge,  and  see  to  it 


Ivan  Tikh6novich  Pososhk6v         209 

that  no  inferior  wares  are  adulterated  by  the  admixture  of 
better  material,  but  that  they  are  sold  such  as  they  are,  the 
good  wares  as  good  wares,  the  mediocre  as  mediocre,  and 
the  poor  as  poor,  and  that  right  weights  and  measures  be 
given,  and  that  the  prices  be  not  raised  on  the  goods,  and 
that  there  be  no  adulterations.  Let  only  the  right  price  be 
asked,  and  let  them  measure  foreign  stuffs,  brocade,  cala- 
manco and  silks  from  the  first  end,  and  not  from  the  last. 
And  no  matter  what  buyer  there  come,  whether  rich  or  poor, 
whether  experienced  or  inexperienced,  let  them  all  be  treated 
in  the  same  fair  manner,  and  let  there  not  a  kopek  be 
added  to  the  price  of  one  rouble  or  ten  roubles. 

Whatever  fine  is  to  be  collected  should  be  collected  by 
the  hundred-men,  without  delay,  on  the  day  the  offence  has 
been  committed.  All  the  fines  ought  to  be  entered  in  a 
ledger  which  should  be  reported  every  month  in  the  proper 
office.  No  transaction,  neither  great  nor  small,  should  take 
place  with  the  foreigners  who  frequent  the  fairs,  without  the 
permission  of  the  Chief  Commander  of  the  Merchant  Guild. 
Whoever  dares  to  sell  even  a  rouble's  worth  of  goods  to 
these  foreigners  without  the  permission  of  the  Chief  Com- 
mander shall  be  fined  a  hundredfold,  a  hundred  roubles  for 
every  rouble  sold,  and  the  punishment  shall  be  administered 
with  the  knout,  as  many  strokes  as  may  be  decreed,  that 
they  should  remember  them  and  never  do  so  again. 

FROM   THE  CHAPTER   "  ON  THE   PEASANTRY" 

Much  might  be  added  to  the  protection  of  the  peasantry  if 
their  houses  were  rebuilt  so  that  they  could  live  more  freely 
and  peacefully;  for  much  damage  is  done  to  them  through 
overcrowding:  if  one  man's  house  take  fire,  the  whole  vil- 
lage is  threatened,  and  frequently  not  a  single  house  is 
left.  This  leads  to  endless  poverty.  If  they  had  not  been 
so  much  crowded  in  their  settlements,  they  would  not  be  so 
easily  ruined.  It  is  against  this  ruin  that  they  ought  to  be 
protected.  Let  them  build  their  houses  farther  from  each 
other,  nor  join  yard  to  yard,  but  with  intervals,  a  few  houses 

VOL.  I.— 14, 


2IO  The  Eighteenth  Century 

in  a  lot;  the  streets  ought  to  be  wide,  where  there  is  suffi- 
cient space,  not  less  than  two  hundred  feet  in  width ;  where 
the  space  is  crowded,  not  less  than  one  hundred  feet  in 
width.  In  this  way,  if  there  should  be  a  fire,  all  the  neigh- 
bours would  run  to  put  it  out :  there  being  intervals  between 
the  houses,  it  would  be  easy  to  reach  them  from  all  sides, 
and  as  there  would  be  little  danger  for  the  neighbouring 
houses,  the  peasants  would  not  rush,  as  before,  to  save  their 
own  possessions,  but  would  aid  their  unfortunate  neighbour. 
As  the  settlements  are  now  arranged,  it  is  utterly  impossible 
for  the  neighbours  to  bring  aid;  they  rush  for  their  own, 
which  they  cannot  all  save,  but  generally  lose  everything 
they  have.    Thus  they  are  ruined  and  become  impoverished. 

Not  a  small  degree  of  annoyance  is  caused  the  peasants 
from  not  having  literate  people  among  them.  There  are 
many  villages  of  twenty  or  thirty  houses  that  have  not  a 
single  man  that  can  read;  if  any  come  to  them  with  an 
ukase,  or  without  an  ukase,  pretending  to  have  one,  they 
believe  him,  and  suffer  damages;  for  they  are  all  blind, — 
they  see  nothing  and  understand  nothing.  They  are  not 
able  to  dispute  with  the  people  that  pretend  having  ukases, 
and  they  frequently  pay  unwarranted  taxes  to  them.  To 
guard  the  peasants  from  such  losses,  it  seems  to  me,  they 
ought  to  be  compelled  to  send  their  children  often  years  and 
less  to  some  subdeacon  to  be  instructed  how  to  read  and 
write.  I  think  it  would  not  be  a  bad  thing  if  the  smallest 
village  were  not  without  a  literate  man,  so  there  ought  to 
be  a  strict  law  compelling  the  peasants  to  have  their  children 
instructed  for  three  or  four  years.  And  there  ought  to  be  a 
severe  punishment  for  those  who  do  not  have  their  children 
taught  anything  for  four  years,  or  who  do  not  have  them 
instructed  at  all  as  they  grow  up. 

Having  learned  to  read  and  write,  they  will  not  only  con- 
duct more  intelligently  the  affairs  of  their  masters,  but  they 
will  be  also  useful  in  the  Government,  being  eligible  as 
hundred-men  and  fifty-men,  and  no  one  would  abuse  them 
and  mulct  them  for  nothing. 


Feofin  Prokop6vich  211 

Feofin  (in  private  life  Eledzar)  Prokop6vich. 
(1681-1763.) 

Peter  the  Great's  reforms  were  not  so  much  the  beginning  of  a  new 
movement,  as  the  accomplishment  of  a  mental  ferment  which  was 
taking  place  in  Russia  towards  the  end  of  the  seventeenth  century, 
and  they  were  successful  and  permanent  in  the  degree  that  he  made 
use  of  persons  who  were  already  in  sympathy  with  Western  culture. 
The  most  important  of  these  was  Feofdn  Prokop6vich.  Prokop6vich 
studied  in  the  schools  of  Kiev,  then  became  a  Uniat  and  continued 
his  studies  in  Poland,  then  went  to  Rome  and  entered  the  College  of 
St.  Athanasius,  which  had  been  established  for  the  purpose  of  a 
Catholic  propaganda  among  the  Greeks  and  Slavs  of  the  Eastern 
Church.  There  he  distinguished  himself  for  his  brilliant  learning, 
which  included  a  thorough  knowledge  of  the  classics.  He  returned 
to  Russia  in  1702,  renounced  his  Uniat  affiliations  and  became  a 
teacher  in  the  Kiev  Academy.  Here  he  composed  a  text-book  on  the 
art  of  poetry  and  a  tragi-comedy,  Vladimir,  which  was  played  by  the 
students  of  the  Academy.  Peter  I.  met  Feofdn  in  1709,  after  the  victory 
at  Poltdva,  when  the  latter  received  him  in  Kiev  with  a  panegyric. 
In  1716  he  was  called  to  St.  Petersburg,  where,  during  the  absence  of 
Peter,  he  employed  his  oratorical  powers  to  advocate  the  Emperor's 
reforms.  The  following  year  he  was  made  bishop  of  N6vgorod.  The 
following  year  he  was  entrusted  with  reforming  the  government  of 
the  Church,  which  he  did  by  his  famous  Spiritual  Reglententy  a  work 
that  breathes  the  most  enlightened  liberalism.  One  of  the  chief 
changes  introduced  by  this  Reglement  was  the  abandonment  of  the 
all-powerful  Patriarchate,  and  the  substitution  for  it  of  the  Holy 
Synod,  of  which  he  became  the  ruling  spirit.  After  the  death  of 
Peter  the  Great,  his  enemies  swooped  down  upon  him,  but,  having 
passed  the  school  of  the  Jesuits,  he  was  an  adept  at  diplomacy  and 
intrigue,  and  paid  them  back  in  their  own  coin.  However,  Proko- 
p6vich  is  remembered  for  the  enormous  good  he  did,  for  his  pro- 
digious learning,  to  which  many  foreigners  who  visited  Russia  are 
witnesses,  but  especially  for  encouraging  scholarship  and  literature. 
Tatishchev  and  Kantemir  were  his  friends,  and  upon  the  appearance 
of  Kantemir's  first  satire  (see  p.  223),  he  was  the  first  to  hail  his 
promising  talent. 

There  is  a  translation  of  Prokop6vich's  Catechism  under  the  title, 
The  Russian  Catechism,  composed  and  published  by  order  of  the 
Czar  [Peter  I.  Translated  from  the  Russian  by  J.  T.  Philipps],  Lon- 
don [1723],  second  edition  1725. 


212  The  Eighteenth  Century 

FROM  "THE  SPIRITUAL  REGLEMENT" 

OF  INSTRUCTION 

It  is  known  to  the  whole  world  how  weak  and  impotent 
the  Russian  army  was  when  it  had  no  regular  instruction, 
and  how  incomparably  its  strength  was  increased  and  be- 
came great  and  terrible  when  our  august  monarch,  his  Im- 
perial Highness  Peter  the  First,  instructed  it  in  a  proper 
manner.  The  same  is  true  of  architecture,  medicine,  politi- 
cal government,  and  all  other  aflfairs. 

But,  most  of  all,  that  is  true  of  the  government  of  the 
Church:  when  there  is  not  the  light  of  instruction,  the 
Church  cannot  have  any  good  conduct,  and  impossibly  can 
there  be  avoided  disorder  and  superstitions  that  deserve  a 
great  deal  of  ridicule,  as  well  as  strife,  and  most  foolish 
heresies. 

Many  foolishly  assert  that  instruction  is  the  cause  of 
heresy.  But  the  heretics  of  ancient  days,  the  Valentinians, 
Manichaeans,  Catharists,  Euchites,  Donatists  and  others, 
whose  stupid  acts  are  described  by  Irenseus,  Epiphanius, 
Augustine,  Theodoret  and  others,  raved,  not  through  in- 
struction, but  through  arrogant  foolishness.  And  did  not 
our  own  dissenters  rave  so  deliriously  through  their  lack  of 
culture,  and  ignorance?  Though  there  are  some  heresi- 
archs,  such  as  were  Arius,  Nestorius  and  a  few  others,  yet 
their  heresies  arose  not  through  instruction,  but  from  an  im- 
perfect understanding  of  the  Holy  Writ,  and  they  grew  and 
were  strengthened  through  malice  and  false  pride  which  did 
not  permit  them  to  change  their  wrong  opinion  after  they 
had  discovered  the  truth,  and  against  their  conscience. 
And  though  their  instruction  gave  them  the  power  to  use 
sophisms,  that  is,  cunning  proofs  of  their  elucubrations, 
yet  he  who  would  want  to  ascribe  this  evil  simply  to  instruc- 
tion would  be  compelled  to  say  that  where  a  physician 
poisons  a  patient,  his  knowledge  of  medicine  was  the  cause 
thereof,  and  where  a  soldier  valiantly  and  cunningly  strikes 
down  the  enemy,  military  art  is  the  cause  of  killing.  And 
when  we  look  through  historj',  as  through  a  telescope,  at 


Feofan  Prokop6vich  213 

the  past  ages,  we  shall  discover  more  evil  in  the  Dark  Ages 
than  in  those  that  were  enlightened  through  culture.  The 
bishops  were  not  so  arrogant  before  the  fifth  century  as 
they  were  afterwards,  especially  the  bishops  of  Rome  and 
Constantinople,  because  before  there  was  learning,  and  after- 
wards it  grew  less.  If  learning  were  dangerous  to  the 
Church  and  State,  the  best  Christians  would  not  study  them- 
selves, and  would  forbid  others  to  study;  but  we  see  that 
all  our  ancient  teachers  studied  not  only  the  Holy  Writ, 
but  also  profane  philosophy.  Besides  many  others,  the 
most  famous  pillars  of  the  Church  have  advocated  profane 
learning,  namely:  Basil  the  Great  in  his  instruction  to  the 
studying  youths,  Chrysostom  in  his  books  on  monastic 
life,  Gregory  the  Theologue  in  his  sermon  on  Julian  the 
Apostate.  I  should  have  a  great  deal  to  say,  if  I  were  to 
dwell  on  this  alone. 

Good  and  thorough  instruction  is  the  root  and  seed  and 
foundation  of  all  usefulness,  both  for  the  fatherland  and  the 
Church.  There  is,  however,  a  kind  of  instruction  which 
does  not  deserve  that  name,  though  it  is  deemed  by  certain 
clever  but  not  well-informed  men  to  be  the  real  instruction. 

Many  are  in  the  habit  of  asking  in  what  schools  such  and 
such  an  one  has  been  educated  ?  When  they  hear  that  he  has 
been  in  rhetoric,  philosophy  and  theology,  they  are  prone 
to  place  him  very  high,  for  the  sake  of  those  names,  but  in 
that  they  frequently  err,  for  not  all  get  good  instruction 
from  good  teachers,  one  on  account  of  his  dulness,  another 
on  account  of  his  laziness;  how  much  is  that  the  case  when 
the  teacher  is  little,  or  not  at  all,  proficient  in  his  subject! 

It  is  important  to  know  that  from  the  sixth  to  the  fifteenth 
century,  that  is,  for  nine  hundred  years,  all  learning  in 
Europe  was  of  a  very  meagre  and  imperfect  character,  so  that 
we  see  in  the  authors  who  wrote  at  that  time  great  sharp- 
ness of  wit,  but  small  enlightenment.  With  the  fifteenth 
century  there  began  to  appear  better-informed  and  more 
skilful  teachers,  and  by  degrees  many  academies  acquired  a 
greater  importance  than  in  those  ancient  Augustan  times; 
many  other  schools,  on  the  contrary,  stuck  fast  in  their 


214  The  Eighteenth  Century 

ancient  slime,  preserving,  indeed,  the  names  of  rhetoric, 
philosophy  and  other  sciences,  but  in  reality  having  none 
of  them.  Different  causes  have  led  to  this,  but  space  does 
not  permit  their  mention  here. 

People  who  have  received,  so  to  say,  an  empty  and  fan- 
tastic education  in  these  institutions  are  generally  more 
stupid  than  those  who  have  received  none  at  all.  Being 
themselves  in  the  dark,  they  deem  themselves  to  be  perfect, 
and  imagining  that  they  have  learned  all  that  there  is  to  be 
learned,  neither  have  the  desire,  nor  think  it  worth  while  to 
read  books  and  study  more.  On  the  other  hand,  a  man  who 
has  received  the  proper  schooling  is  never  satisfied  with  his 
knowledge,  and  never  stops  learning,  even  though  he  has 
passed  the  age  of  Methuselah. 

But  this  is  the  greatest  misfortune :  the  above-mentioned 
imperfectly  instructed  people  are  not  only  useless,  but  also 
very  harmful  to  society.  State  and  Church.  They  humble 
themselves  beyond  necessity  before  the  authorities,  attempt- 
ing through  cunning  to  appropriate  to  themselves  favours, 
and  crawl  into  higher  places.  They  hate  people  of  the 
same  standing  as  themselves,  and  if  anyone  is  praised  for  his 
learning,  they  use  their  utmost  endeavour  to  depreciate  and 
denounce  him  before  the  people  and  authorities.  They  are 
prone  to  take  part  in  rebellions,  hoping  to  gain  advantages 
for  themselves  through  them.  When  they  take  to  theolog- 
ical discussions,  they  cannot  help  falling  into  heresies,  for, 
being  ignorant,  they  easily  fall  into  error,  after  which  they 
will  not  change  the  opinion  they  have  uttered,  for  fear  of 
appearing  not  to  have  known  all.  But  wise  men  have  this 
proverb:  "  It  is  the  property  of  a  wise  man  to  change  his 
opinion." 

FUNERAL  SERMON  ON  PETER  THE  GREAT 

What  is  this,  and  what  have  we  lived  to  see,  O  Russians? 
What  are  we  doing  now  ?  We  are  burying  Peter  the  Great! 
Is  it  not  a  dream  ?  Not  a  vision  of  the  night  ?  Oh,  what  a 
real  sorrow!  Oh,  what  certain  bitter  reality!  Contrary  to 
all  expectations  and  hopes  he  has  ended  his  life  who  has 


Feofin  Prokopovich  215 

been  the  cause  of  our  innumerable  benefactions  and  joys, 
who  has  resuscitated  Russia  as  if  from  the  dead,  and  has 
raised  it  to  great  power  and  glory,  nay,  has  begot  it  and 
brought  it  up,  he  the  true  father  of  his  country,  whom  for 
his  deserts  all  the  good  sons  of  Russia  wished  to  be  immortal, 
and  whom,  on  account  of  his  youth  and  bodily  strength, 
they  had  hoped  to  see  many  years  alive.  O  dire  calamity! 
He  has  ended  his  life  just  as  he  was  beginning  to  live  after 
his  labours,  unrest,  sorrows,  calamities,  after  so  many  and 
varied  deaths. 

We  see  well  how  we  have  angered  Thee,  O  Lord,  and 
how  long  we  have  tempted  Thy  long-suffering !  O  we  un- 
fortunate and  unworthy  people!  O  the  infinitude  of  our 
sins !  He  who  does  not  see  that  is  blind.  He  who  sees  it 
and  does  not  confess  is  turned  to  stone  in  his  heartlessness. 
But  why  should  we  increase  our  woes  and  heart-pain,  which 
we  ought  rather  attempt  to  allay  ?  But  if  we  are  to  mention 
his  great  talents,  acts  and  works  we  shall  only  be  stung 
more  severely  by  the  loss  of  our  good  man,  and  we  shall  sob 
aloud.  Only  in  a  lethargy,  or  some  deathlike  sleep,  could 
we  at  all  forget  our  so  sad  loss.  What  a  great  and  what  a 
good  man  we  have  lost ! 

O  Russia,  this  Samson  of  yours  came  to  you  when  no  one 
in  the  world  had  expected  him,  and  when  he  appeared  the 
whole  world  marvelled.  He  found  you  weak  in  power,  and 
to  conform  with  his  name  he  made  you  of  stone  and  ada- 
mant. He  found  an  army  dangerous  at  home,  weak  in  the 
field  and  scorned  by  the  foe,  and  he  gave  his  country  a 
useful  army  that  is  terrible  to  the  enemy,  and  everywhere 
renowned  and  glorious.  He  defended  his  country,  and  at 
the  same  time  returned  to  it  the  lands  that  had  been  taken 
away  from  it,  and  increased  it  by  the  acquisition  of  new 
provinces.  When  he  crushed  those  who  rose  against  us,  he 
at  the  same  time  broke  the  strength  of  our  ill-wishers  and 
subdued  their  spirits,  and,  closing  up  the  lips  of  envy,  com- 
pelled the  whole  world  to  proclaim  glorious  things  of  him- 
self. 

O  Russia,  he  was  your  first  Japheth,  who  had  accomplished 


2i6  The  Eighteenth  Century 

a  deed  unheard  of  in  your  annals,  having  introduced  the 
building  and  sailing  of  ships.  He  gave  you  a  new  fleet  that, 
to  the  wonderment  of  the  world  and  surpassing  all  expecta- 
tion, was  in  no  way  inferior  to  much  older  fleets,  and  he 
opened  for  you  a  path  to  all  the  ends  of  the  earth,  and  spread 
your  power  and  glory  to  the  extreme  corners  of  the  ocean, 
to  the  limits  of  your  usefulness,  to  the  limits  which  justice 
had  placed;  and  the  might  of  your  dominion,  which  hereto- 
fore was  firm  on  land,  he  has  now  made  strong  and  perman- 
ent upon  the  sea. 

O  Russia,  he  is  your  Moses !  Are  not  his  laws  like  a  firm 
protection  of  truth,  and  like  unbreakable  fetters  of  wrong- 
doing ?  And  are  not  his  statutes  clear,  a  light  upon  your 
path  ?  And  are  not  the  high  ruling  Senate  and  the  many 
special  institutions  of  his  so  many  lights  in  the  search  of 
advantage,  the  warding  off  of  harm,  the  safety  of  the  peace- 
ful, and  the  unmasking  of  the  wrongdoers  ?  He  has  verily 
left  us  in  doubt  whether  he  is  more  to  be  praised  for  being 
loved  and  cherished  by  the  good  and  simple-hearted,  or  for 
being  hated  by  unrepenting  flatterers  and  rascals. 

O  Russia,  he  is  your  Solomon,  who  has  received  from  the 
Lord  his  very  great  reason  and  wisdom.  Have  we  not  suffi- 
cient testimony  thereof  in  the  many  philosophic  arts,  which 
he  himself  practised  and  many  subjects  introduced  under  his 
supervision,  and  in  the  many  cunning  industrial  arts  which 
have  never  before  been  heard  of  among  us  ?  And  he  also 
introduced  the  chins '  and  degrees,  and  civil  order,  and  de- 
cent manners  in  daily  intercourse,  and  the  rules  of  accept- 
able habits  and  customs,  and  now  we  see  and  admire  the 
external  appearance  and  internal  worth  of  our  country,  which 
from  within  and  without  is  far  superior  to  what  it  was  in 
former  years. 

He  is  also,  O  Russian  Church,  your  David  and  Constan- 
tine.  The  synodal  government  is  his  creation,  and  its  writ- 
ten and  oral  instructions  were  his  care.  Oh,  how  often 
his  heart  was  heavy  when  he  saw  the  ignorance  in  the  path 

'There  are  fourteen  rank  distinctions,  called  "chins,"  in  Russia ; 
they  are  acquired  through  service  only,  independently  of  birth. 


Feofan  Prokopovich  217 

of  salvation !  How  great  his  zeal  was  against  superstition 
and  deceptive  simulations,  and  the  senseless,  hostile  and 
destructive  heresy  amongst  us!  How  great  was  his  desire 
and  endeavour  to  see  more  learning  among  the  clergy,  and 
a  greater  godliness  and  more  decent  worship  in  the  people  ! 

But,  O  renowned  man !  Can  we  in  a  short  sermon  mention 
all  his  glory  ?  The  present  sorrow  and  grief  which  compels 
us  to  shed  tears  and  sigh  does  not  allow  of  an  extended 
speech.  Perhaps  in  time  this  thorn  that  stings  our  hearts 
will  be  dulled,  and  then  we  will  speak  at  greater  length  of 
his  deeds  and  virtues,  though  we  shall  never  be  able  suf- 
ficiently to  praise  him  according  to  his  worth.  To-day, 
though  we  are  only  making  a  short  mention  of  him  and,  as 
it  were,  are  only  touching  the  hems  of  his  garments,  we, 
poor  unfortunate  people,  see,  O  hearers,  who  has  left  us  and 
whom  we  have  lost. 

lyet  us  not,  O  Russians,  faint  with  sorrow  and  grief,  for 
the  great  monarch  and  our  father  has  not  left  us  in  a  bad 
plight.  He  has  left  us,  but  not  poor  and  necessitous:  the 
immeasurable  wealth  of  his  power  and  glory,  which  has 
been  realised  by  his  above-mentioned  deeds,  is  with  us. 
Russia  will  be  such  as  he  has  made  it;  he  has  made  it 
an  object  of  love  to  the  good,  and  it  will  be  loved;  he  has 
made  it  terrible  to  the  enemy,  and  terrible  it  will  remain ;  he 
has  made  it  glorious  throughout  the  whole  world,  and  it  will 
not  cease  to  be  glorious.  He  has  left  us  religious,  civil  and 
military  institutions.  He  has  left  us,  and  his  body  will 
decay,  but  his  spirit  will  stay. 

Above  all,  in  leaving  this  temporal  world,  he  has  not  left 
us  orphaned.  How  could  we,  indeed,  call  ourselves  orphaned 
when  we  see  his  legacy  to  the  throne,  his  real  helpmate  in 
life,  a  ruler  like  him  after  his  demise,  you,  most  gracious 
and  autocrat  Empress,  great  heroine  and  monarch,  and 
mother  of  all  the  Russias  ?  The  whole  world  is  a  witness 
that  your  sex  does  not  prevent  your  being  like  Peter  the 
Great.  Who  does  not  know  your  wisdom  as  a  ruler,  and 
your  motherly  womanliness,  and  your  natural  God-given 
talents  ?    And  all  this  took  place  and  was  confirmed  in  you 


2i8  The  Eighteenth  Century 

not  merely  through  your  association  with  so  great  a  mon- 
arch, but  also  in  your  communion  with  his  wisdom,  labours 
and  various  calamities.  He,  having  tried  you  during  a  series 
of  years,  like  gold  in  the  crucible,  deemed  it  insufficient  to 
have  you  as  a  cohabiter  of  his  bed,  but  made  you  also  the 
heir  to  his  crown,  and  power,  and  throne.  How  can  we 
help  hoping  that  you  will  confirm  what  he  has  done,  will 
create  anew  what  he  has  left  undone  and  will  keep  all  in 
good  condition  ?  Only,  O  valiant  soul,  try  to  overcome  this 
unendurable  calamity  which  has  been  intensified  by  the  loss 
of  your  most  beloved  daughter,  and  which,  like  a  severe 
wound,  has  been  torn  beyond  measure  by  this  new  sting. 
And  as  you  have  been  seen  by  all  ever  present  with  Peter 
of  glorious  deeds,  an  incessant  companion  in  all  his  labours 
and  troubles,  so  try  even  now  to  be  such  in  this  your  very 
bitter  loss. 

And  you,  noble  assembly,  of  all  ranks  and  degrees,  sons 
of  Russia,  with  your  faithfulness  and  obedience  console  your 
Empress  and  mother.  Console  yourselves  also,  seeing  the 
undoubted  signs  of  Peter's  spirit  in  your  Empress,  and  that 
not  all  of  Peter  has  passed  away.  Then  let  us  bow  before 
our  Lord  who  has  thus  visited  us,  praying  Him,  the  God  of 
mercy  and  father  of  all  consolation,  to  wipe  the  unrestrained 
tears  of  her  Highness,  our  most  autocratic  Empress,  and  her 
precious  blood,  her  daughters,  grandchildren,  nieces  and 
all  the  high  family,  and  to  soothe  the  grief  of  their  hearts 
with  His  gracious  care,  and  to  console  us  all  in  His  mercy. 

O  Russia,  seeing  what  a  great  man  has  left  you,  see  also 
how  great  he  has  left  you.     Amen ! 

Vaslli  Nikitich  Tatishchev.    (1686-1750.) 

Tatishchev  was  one  of  the  most  distinguished  and  intelligent 
friends  of  the  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great.  Having  studied  first  at 
Moscow  and  then  in  Germany,  he  was  attached  to  the  Berg-und- 
Manufaktur-KoUeg  (Department  of  Mining  and  Manufactures).  The 
president  of  the  institution  pointed  out  to  Peter  the  Great  the  neces- 
sity for  a  geography  of  the  empire,  and  this  task  was  entrusted  to 
Tatishchev.  lu  the  course  of  his  work,  the  latter  was  induced  to 
make  a  thorough  study  of  old  historical  documents,  of  which  he 


Vasili  Nikitich  Tatishchev  219 

discovered  a  large  number.  Several  of  the  chronicles  he  mentions  and 
had  access  to  have  not  been  preserved,  and  later  historians  have  to 
rely  on  the  statements  made  by  Tatishchev  for  some  important  his- 
torical information.  In  1720  he  was  sent  to  Siberia  for  the  purpose 
of  prospecting  for  copper  and  silver  and  establishing  varioiis  plants. 
Then  began  a  laborious  career,  in  a  large  variety  of  capacities,  among 
them  that  of  Governor  of  Astrakhan.  The  years  1724-26  he  passed 
in  Sweden,  where  he  cultivated  the  acquaintance  of  Swedish  scholars 
and  made  a  study  of  foreign  sources  of  Russian  history.  Thus 
Tatishchev  had  ample  opportunities  for  becoming  the  first  historio- 
grapher of  Russia.  His  History  of  Russia,  which  was  published  in 
the  reign  of  Catherine  the  Great,  shows  an  intimate  knowledge  of  the 
philosophical  systems  of  Descartes  and  Tomasius,  and  the  political 
systems  of  Christian  Wolff,  Puffendorf  and  Hugo  Grotius,  as  well  as 
Machiavelli  and  Locke.  He  was  opposed  to  a  political  supremacy  of 
the  Church  even  more  decidedly  than  Prokop6vich,  the  author  of  the 
Spiritual  Reglement  (see  p.  211).  It  is  an  interesting  fact  that  when 
Tatishchev  found  no  sympathy  for  his  History  in  St  Petersburg,  he 
corresponded  with  a  friend  in  England  for  the  purpose  of  having  it 
published  in  English  by  the  Royal  Society  at  London,  but  there 
could  not  be  found  an  Englishman  who  was  competent  to  undertake 
the  translation.  Of  his  other  works,  his  Spiritual  Testament  and  In- 
struction to  my  Son  Evgrdf,  though  replete  with  liberal  views,  is  the 
last  in  the  long  chain  of  Instructions  in  which  the  older  period 
abounds,  such  as  the  Instruction  of  Vladimir  Monomdkh  (p.  50),  and 
the  Domostrdy  of  Sylvester  (p.  126).  It  has  been  translated  into 
English  :  The  Testament  of  B.  Tatischef  translated  from  the  Russian 
manuscript  by  J.  Martinof,  Paris,  i860. 

FROM  THE  "RUSSIAN  HISTORY" 

One  ought  not  to  discuss  the  usefulness  of  history,  for 
everybody  can  see  and  feel  it ;  but  as  some  are  not  accus- 
tomed to  see  thingis  clearly  and  discuss  them  in  detail,  and 
often  through  their  perverted  understanding  make  the  use- 
ful to  appear  as  harmful  and  the  harmful  as  useful,  and  con- 
sequently transgress  in  their  acts  and  deeds  (as  indeed  I  have 
heard  such  people,  to  my  disgust,  talk  loud  of  the  uselessness 
of  history),  I  deemed  it  proper  to  give  a  short  review  of  it. 

To  begin  with,  history  is  nothing  else  than  the  recounting 
of  past  acts  and  occurrences,  good  and  bad ;  for  all  that  we 
have  experienced  in  recent  or  long-passed  days  through 


2  20  The  Eighteenth  Century 

our  senses  of  hearing,  seeing  and  feeling,  or  that  we  repro- 
duce by  our  memory,  is  really  history,  and  it  teaches  us, 
whether  through  our  acts  or  those  of  others,  to  emulate  the 
good  and  beware  of  the  evil.  For  example,  when  I  recollect 
that  I  saw  yesterday  a  fisherman  who  had  been  catching  fish 
and  had  had  a  certain  success  in  it,  I  naturally  receive  in 
my  mind  an  impulse  to  do  likewise;  or  if  I  saw  yesterday  a 
thief  or  some  other  criminal,  who  had  been  sentenced  to 
a  severe  punishment  or  death,  terror  will  naturally  keep  me 
from  committing  such  an  act  as  would  cause  my  utter  ruin. 
All  the  histories  we  read  act  upon  us  in  the  same  manner: 
the  deeds  of  ancient  days  are  represented  to  us  so  vividly  that 
we  seem  to  have  seen  and  felt  them  ourselves. 

For  this  reason  we  may  say  that  no  man,  no  condition 
of  life,  no  profession,  science,  nor  government,  much  less  a 
single  individual,  can  be  perfect,  wise  and  useful  without 
a  knowledge  of  the  same.  For  example,  let  us  take  the 
sciences.  The  first  and  greatest  of  them  all  is  theology, 
that  is,  the  science  of  God,  His  all-wisdom,  almightiness, 
which  alone  leads  us  to  future  bliss,  and  so  forth.  Now,  no 
theologian  can  be  called  wi^e  who  does  not  know  the  ancient 
divine  acts  which  have  been  revealed  to  us  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  and  when,  with  whom  and  why  there  have  been 
disputes  about  certain  dogmas  and  articles  of  faith,  or  when 
and  why  this  has  been  established  and  that  discarded ;  why 
certain  statutes  and  orders  of  the  ancient  Church  have  been 
changed,  discontinued,  and  new  ones  introduced;  conse- 
quently he  must  know  divine  and  church  history,  as  well  as 
civil  history,  as  Huet,  the  famous  French  theologian,  has 
sufi&ciently  pointed  out. 

The  second  science  is  jurisprudence,  which  teaches  proper 
conduct  and  our  duties  to  God,  ourselves  and  our  neigh- 
bours, in  order  to  acquire  peace  of  body  and  soul.  No  jurist 
can  be  called  wise  who  does  not  know  former  interpretations 
and  discussions  of  natural  and  civil  laws.  And  how  can  a 
judge  pass  right  judgment  if  he  does  not  know  the  origin 
and  application  of  old  and  new  laws  ?  Indeed,  he  must 
know  the  history  of  the  laws. 


Vasili  Nikitich  Tatishchev  221 

The  third  is  medicine,  or  leechcrafl,  which  science  con- 
sists in  the  art  of  preserving  health,  and  bringing  back  the 
lost  health,  or  in  preventing  the  disease  from  spreading. 
All  this  depends  on  history,  for  the  physician  must  gain  his 
knowledge  from  the  ancients,  must  know  what  is  the  cause 
of  diseases,  what  medicine  and  treatment  to  give,  what  the 
property  and  strength  of  each  medicine  is,  all  of  which  no 
man  could  find  out  in  a  hundred  years  through  his  own 
experience  and  investigation.  But  to  experiment  on  the 
sick  is  a  dangerous  matter,  from  which  they  could  easily  be 
ruined,  though  this  is  not  infrequently  the  case  with  certain 
ignoramuses.  I  shall  not  mention  many  other  parts  of  phi- 
losophy, but  I  may  summarise  by  saying  that  all  philosophy 
is  based  on  history  and  supported  by  it,  for  all  the  right  and 
wrong  and  faulty  opinions  which  we  find  with  the  ancients 
are  history  as  regards  our  knowledge,  and  form  the  basis  for 
our  corrections. 

Statesmanship  is  composed  of  three  different  parts:  of  the 
internal  government,  or  economy,  external  relations,  and 
military  affairs.  All  three  demand  not  less  history  than 
the  other  sciences,  and  without  it  cannot  be  perfect.  Thus, 
in  political  economy  it  is  necessary  to  know  what  has  caused 
ruin  in  former  days ;  how  it  has  been  warded  off  or  minimised ; 
what  have  been  the  favourable  influences;  how  obtained  and 
preserved,  so  that  the  present  and  future  may  be  wisely 
judged  in  the  light  of  that  knowledge.  On  account  of  this 
wisdom,  the  ancient  Romans  represented  their  god  Janus 
with  two  faces,  for  he  knew  perfectly  the  past,  and  from  its 
examples  wisely  judged  the  future. 

For  the  administration  of  foreign  affairs  it  is  necessary  to 
know  not  only  one's  own  country,  but  also  other  govern- 
ments: what  conditions  they  have  formerly  been  in;  what 
has  brought  about  changes  in  them;  what  states  they  are  in 
now;  with  whom  they  have  had  disputes  and  wars,  and  for 
what;  what  treaties  have  been  made  and  confirmed  with 
them,  in  order  to  proceed  intelligently  in  the  acts  at  hand. 

For  military  leaders  it  is  very  important  to  know  by  what 
device  and  cunning  great  forces  of  the  enemy  have  been 


/^ 


222  The  Eighteenth  Century 

vanquished,  or  kept  from  victory,  and  so  forth,  as  we  see 
Alexander  the  Great  having  held  Homer's  books  on  the 
Trojan  war  in  great  respect,  and  having  been  instructed  by 
them.  For  this  reason  many  great  generals  have  described 
their  own  acts  and  those  of  others.  Of  these  the  most 
illustrious  example  is  Julius  Caesar,  who  has  described  his 
wars,  that  future  generals  might  after  him  use  his  acts  for 
their  own  examples,  and  many  famous  generals  on  land  and 
on  the  sea  have  followed  in  his  footsteps  by  writing  of  their 
exploits.  Many  great  rulers  have  either  themselves  written 
of  their  acts,  or  have  ordered  expert  people  to  write  of  them» 
not  only  that  their  memory  should  live  in  glory,  but  that 
their  descendants  should  have  examples  to  follow. 

As  regards  the  usefulness  of  Russian  history  it  must  be 
remarked,  that,  as  is  the  case  with  all  other  histories,  the 
knowledge  of  one's  own  history  and  geography  is  more  im- 
portant for  any  nation  or  region  than  that  of  foreign  his> 
tories;  at  the  same  time  it  must  be  kept  in  mind  that  without 
the  knowledge  of  foreign  histories,  one's  own  is  not  clear  and 
sufficient:  i.  That  the  writer  of  contemporary  history  can- 
not know  all  the  external  influences  for  good  and  bad; 
2.  That  the  writers  are  frequently  compelled,  out  of  fear, 
to  suppress,  or  change,  or  modify  some  very  important  cir- 
cumstances of  contemporary  history ;  3.  That  from  passion, 
love,  or  hatred,  they  describe  quite  diflferently  from  what 
were  the  actual  occurrences,  and  that  the  facts  are  frequently 
related  more  correctly  and  in  detail  by  outsiders.  Thus,  in 
my  present  work,  the  first  part,  dealing  with  the  Russian 
antiquity,  has  mainly  been  drawn  from  foreign  sources  for 
lack  of  native  writers,  and  in  the  other  parts  many  errors  and 
lacunae  have  been  corrected  and  filled  out  from  foreign 
sources.  European  historians  accuse  us  of  having  no  old 
history,  and  of  knowing  nothing  of  our  antiquity,  simply 
because  they  do  not  know  what  historians  we  possess,  and 
though  some  have  made  a  few  extracts,  or  have  translated 
from  them  a  passage  here  and  there,  others,  thinking  that 
we  have  no  better  ones  than  those  quoted,  despise  them. 
Some  of  our  own  ignorant  writers  agree  with  them,  while 


Prince  Anti6kh  Kantemir  223 

those  who  do  not  wish  to  trouble  themselves  by  looking  into 
the  ancient  sources  or  who  do  not  understand  the  text,  have, 
ostensibly  to  give  a  better  explanation,  but  in  reality  to  hide 
the  truth,  invented  fables  of  their  own  and  thus  have  obscured 
the  real  facts  as  told  by  the  ancients,  as,  for  example,  in  the 
case  of  the  foundation  of  Kfev,  and  that  of  N6vgorod  by 
Slav6n,  and  so  forth. 

I  wish  to  say  here  emphatically  that  all  the  famous  Euro- 
pean historians  will  not  be  able  to  know  or  tell  anything 
correctly  of  many  of  our  antiquities,  no  matter  what  their 
efforts  in  Russian  history  may  be,  if  they  do  not  read  our 
sources, — for  example,  of  the  many  nations  who  have  existed 
here  in  ancient  days,  as  the  Amazons,  Alans,  Huns,  Avars, 
Cimbrians  and  Cimmerians;  nor  do  they  know  anything  of 
the  Scythians,  Sarmatians  and  Slavs,  their  tribes,  origin, 
habitations  and  migrations,  or  of  the  anciently  famous  large 
cities  of  the  Essedonians,  Archipeans,  Cumanians,  etc., 
where  they  have  lived,  and  what  their  present  names  are; 
but  all  this  they  could  find  out  through  a  study  of  Russian 
history.  This  history  is  not  only  of  use  to  us  Russians,  but 
also  to  the  whole  learned  world,  in  order  that  by  it  the  fables 
and  lies  invented  by  our  enemies,  the  Poles  and  others,  for 
the  sake  of  disparaging  our  ancestors,  may  be  laid  bare  and 
contradicted. 

Such  is  the  usefulness  of  history.  But  everybody  ought 
to  know,  and  this  is  easily  perceived,  that  history  describes 
not  only  customs,  deeds  and  occurrences,  but  also  the  con- 
sequences resulting  from  them,  namely,  that  the  wise,  just, 
kind,  brave,  constant  and  faithful  are  rewarded  with  honour, 
glory  and  well-being,  while  the  vicious,  foolish,  evildoers, 
avaricious,  cowardly,  perverse  and  faithless  will  gain  eternal 
dishonour,  shame  and  insult:  from  which  all  may  learn  how 
desirable  it  is  to  obtain  the  first  and  avoid  the  second. 

Prince  Anti6kh  (Antiochus)  Kantemir.    (1708-1744.) 

Atiti6kh  Kantemir  was  not  a  Russian  by  birth.  His  father, 
Demetrius,  had  for  a  number  of  years  been  hospodar  of  Moldavia. 
Harassed  by  the  intrigues  of  a  rival  at  Constantinople,  he  emigrated 


224  The  Eighteenth  Century 

with  four  thousand  of  his  Moldavians  to  Russia,  where  he  arrived 
after  the  unfortunate  Prut  expedition,  in  1711.  Himself  one  of  the 
most  accomplished  scholars  and  linguists  of  Europe,  he  with  the  aid 
of  his  cultivated  Greek  wife  bestowed  the  minutest  care  on  the  edu- 
cation of  his  six  children. 

Having  arrived  in  Russia  in  his  third  year,  Anti6kh  acquired 
Russian  as  his  mother  tongue,  though  he  also  spoke  fluently  six  or 
seven  other  languages,  and  was  well  versed  in  Latin  and  ancient 
Greek.  By  education,  however,  he  was  anything  but  a  Russian,  and 
his  S3rmpathies  were  naturally  directed  towards  the  most  extreme  re- 
formatory tendencies  which  Peter  the  Great  advocated  for  the  State 
and  FeofSn  Prokop6vich  for  the  Church  ;  both  of  them  were  not  slow 
in  recognising  his  unusual  talents.  In  1732  Empress  Anna  appointed 
him  ambassador  to  the  Court  of  St.  James,  and  in  1738  he  was  trans- 
ferred to  Paris,  where  he  passed  his  short  life  in  communion  with 
Maupertuis,  Montesquieu,  A.hb6  Guasco,  and  others.  Besides  a  few 
shorter  poems  and  imitations  and  translations  of  Anacreon,  and  an 
unfinished  ode  on  the  death  of  Peter  the  Great,  Kantemir  comp>osed 
ten  satires,  of  which  the  one  below  is  the  first.  It  is  on  these  satires 
that  his  reputation  mainly  rests.  In  style,  they  are  imitations  of 
Boileau  and  Horace,  though  never  slavish.  His  language  is  not 
always  free  from  Gallicisms,  but  otherwise  it  represents  the  first 
successful  attempt  to  introduce  colloquial  Russian  into  poetrj-.  The 
chief  value  of  the  satires,  independently  of  their  literary  perfection, 
lay  in  their  powerful  attack  on  all  the  contemporary  elements  of 
Russian  society  that  were  antagonistic  to  the  Western  reform. 

Specimens  from  several  of  Kantemir's  satires  are  given  in  C.  E. 
Turner's  Studies  in  Russian  Literature,  London,  1882,  and  the  same 
article,  in  Eraser's  Magazine,  1877. 

Parts  of  the  First  Satire,  in  article  on  Russian  Literature,  in 
Foreign  Quarterly  Review,  vol.  i. 

TO   MY  MIND 

Immature  Mind,  fruit  of  recent  study!  Be  quiet,  urge  not 
the  pen  into  my  hands:  even  without  writing  one  may  pass 
the  fleeting  days  of  life  and  gain  honours,  though  one  be 
not  a  poet.  Many  easy  paths  lead  in  our  days  to  honours, 
and  bold  feet  need  not  stumble  upon  them:  the  least  accept- 
able is  the  one  the  nine  barefooted  sisters  have  laid  out. 
Many  a  man  has  lost  his  strength  thereon,  without  reaching 
a  goal.  You  have  to  toil  and  moil  there,  and  while  you 
labour,  people  avoid  you  like  the  plague,  rail  at  you,  loathe 


Prince  Anti6kh  Kantemir  225 

you.  He  who  bends  over  the  table,  fixing  his  eyes  upon 
books,  will  gain  no  magnificent  palaces,  nor  gardens  adorned 
with  marbles;  will  add  no  sheep  to  his  paternal  flock. 

'T  is  true,  in  our  young  monarch '  a  mighty  hope  has 
risen  for  the  Muses,  and  the  ignorant  flee  in  shame  from 
him.  Apollo  has  found  in  him  a  strong  defender  of  his 
glory,  and  has  seen  him  honouring  his  suite  and  steadily 
intent  upon  increasing  the  dwellers  on  Parnassus."  The 
trouble  is,  many  loudly  praise  in  the  Tsar  what  in  the  sub- 
ject they  haughtily  condemn. 

"  Schisms  and  heresies  are  begot  by  science.*  He  lies 
most  who  knows  most;  who  pores  over  books  becomes  an 
atheist."  Thus  Crito  grumbles,  his  rosary  in  his  hands, 
and  sighs,  and  with  bitter  tears  the  saintly  soul  bids  us  see 
how  dangerous  is  the  seed  of  learning  that  is  cast  among  us  : 
our  children,  who  heretofore  gently  and  meekly  walked  in 
the  path  of  their  forefathers,  eagerly  attending  divine  service 
and  listening  in  fear  to  what  they  did  not  understand,  now, 
to  the  horror  of  the  Church,  have  begun  to  read  the  Bible; 
they  discuss  all,  want  to  know  the  cause  of  all,  and  put  little 
faith  in  the  clerical  profession;  they  have  lost  their  good 
habits,  have  forgotten  how  to  drink  kvas,  and  will  not  be 
driven  with  a  stick  to  partake  of  salt  meat.  They  place  no 
candles  before  the  images,  observe  no  feasts.  They  regard 
the  worldly  power  misplaced  in  clerical  hands,  and  whisper 
that  worldly  possessions  ill  become  those  who  have  re- 
nounced a  worldly  life. 

Sylvan  finds  another  fault  with  science:  "  Education," 
he  says,  "  brings  famine  in  its  track.  We  managed  to  get 
along  before  this  without  knowing  I^atin  much  better  than 
we  live  now.  We  used  to  harvest  more  grain  in  our  ignor- 
ance, but  now  that  we  have  learned  a  foreign  language,  we 
lose  our  corn.     What  of  it  if  my  argument  be  weak  and 

'Peter  II.,  bom  1715 ;  ascended  the  throne  in  1729,  the  year  the 
satire  was  written  in. 

'  Immediately  upon  arriving  in  Moscow,  Peter  II.  confirmed  the 
privileges  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences. 

•Compare  Feofdn  Prokop6vich's  Spiritual  Reglement,  p.  212. 

VOL.  I.— 15. 


226  The  Eighteenth  Century 

without  sense  and  connection, — what  matters  that  to  a  noble- 
man ?  Proof,  order  of  words,  is  the  aflfair  of  low-born  men; 
for  aristocrats  it  sufl&ces  boldly  to  assent,  or  contradict. 
Insane  is  he  who  examines  the  force  and  limitations  of  his 
soul;  who  toils  whole  days  in  his  sweat,  in  order  to  learn 
the  structure  of  the  world  and  the  change  or  cause  of  things: 
't  is  like  making  pease  to  stick  to  the  wall.  Will  all  that 
add  one  day  to  my  life,  or  one  penny  to  my  coffers  ?  Can  I 
by  means  of  it  find  out  how  much  my  clerk  and  superintend- 
ent steal  a  year  or  how  to  add  water  to  my  pond,  or  to  in- 
crease the  number  of  barrels  in  my  still  ? 

' '  Nor  is  he  wise  who,  full  of  unrest,  dims  his  eyes  over  a 
smoking  fire,  in  order  to  learn  the  properties  of  ores.  We 
have  passed  our  ABC,  and  we  can  tell  without  all  that  the 
difference  between  gold,  silver  and  copper.  The  science  of 
herbs  and  diseases  is  idle  talk.  You  have  a  headache,  and 
the  physician  looks  for  signs  of  it  in  your  hand!  The  blood 
is  the  cause  of  all,  if  we  are  to  put  faith  in  them.  When  we 
feel  weak,  it  is  because  our  blood  flows  too  slowly;  if  it 
moves  fast,  there  is  a  fever,  he  says  boldly,  though  no  one 
has  ever  seen  the  inside  of  a  living  body.  And  while  he 
passes  his  time  in  such  fables,  the  contents  of  our  money-bags 
go  into  his.  Of  what  use  is  it  to  calculate  the  course  of  the 
stars,  and  without  rhyme  or  reason  pass  sleepless  nights, 
gazing  at  one  spot  :  for  mere  curiosity's  sake  to  lose  your 
rest,  trying  to  ascertain  whether  the  sun  moves,  or  we  with 
the  earth  ?  We  can  read  in  the  almanac,  for  every  day  in 
the  year,  the  date  of  the  month  and  the  hour  of  sunrise. 
We  can  manage  to  divide  the  land  in  quarters  without 
Euclid,  and  we  know  without  algebra  how  many  kopeks 
there  are  in  a  rouble."  Sylvan  praises  but  one  science  to 
the  skies, — the  one  that  teaches  how  to  increase  his  income 
and  to  save  expenses.  To  labour  in  that  from  which  your 
pocket  does  not  swell  at  once,  he  deems  a  very  dangerous 
occupation  for  a  citizen. 

Red-faced  I,ucas,  belching  thrice,  speaks  in  a  chanting 
voice:  "  Study  kills  the  companionship  of  men.  We  have 
been  created  by  God  as  social  beings,  and  we  have  been 


Prince  Antiokh  Kantemir  227 

given  intelligence  not  for  our  own  sakes  alone.  What  good 
does  it  do  anybody,  if  I  shut  myself  up  in  my  cabinet,  and 
for  my  dead  friends  lose  the  living— when  all  my  comrade- 
ship, all  my  good  fellows,  will  be  ink,  pen,  sand  and  paper  ? 
In  merriment,  in  banquets  we  must  pass  our  lives.  Life  is 
short,  why  should  we  curtail  it  further,  worry  over  books, 
and  harm  our  eyes  ?  Is  it  not  better  to  pass  your  days  and 
nights  over  the  winecup  ?  Wine  is  a  divine  gift,  there  is 
much  good  in  it:  it  befriends  people,  gives  cause  for  con- 
versation, makes  glad,  dispels  heavy  thoughts,  eases  misery, 
gives  courage  to  the  weak,  mollifies  the  cruel,  checks  sullen- 
ness,  and  leads  the  lover  more  readily  to  his  goal.  When 
they  will  begin  to  make  furrows  in  the  sky,  and  the  stars 
will  shine  through  the  surface  of  the  earth;  when  swift 
rivers  will  run  to  their  sources,  and  past  ages  will  return ; 
when  at  Lent  the  monk  will  eat  nothing  but  dried  sturgeon^ 
then  will  I  abandon  my  cup  and  take  to  books." 

Medor  is  worried  because  too  much  paper  is  used  for  letters 
and  for  printed  books,  and  because  he  will  soon  be  left  with- 
out paper  to  curl  his  locks  with.  He  would  not  change  for 
Seneca  a  pound  of  good  face-powder;  in  comparison  with 
Egor,*  Vergil  is  not  worth  two  farthings  to  him,  and  he 
showers  his  praises  on  Rex,"  not  Cicero. 

This  is  a  part  of  the  speeches  that  daily  ring  in  my  ears, 
and  for  this,  O  Mind,  I  advise  you  to  be  dumber  than  a 
dumpling.  Where  there  is  no  profit,  praise  encourages  to 
work,  and  without  it  the  heart  grows  faint.  But  it  is  much 
worse,  when  instead  of  praises  you  earn  insults !  It  is  harder 
than  for  a  tippler  not  to  get  his  wine,  or  for  a  priest  not  to 
celebrate  on  Holy  Week,  or  for  a  merchant  to  forego  heady 
liquor. 

I  know,  O  Mind,  that  you  will  boldly  answer  me  that  it  is 
not  easy  for  an  evil-minded  man  to  praise  virtue;  that  the 
dandy,  miser,  hypocrite,  and  the  like,  must  perforce  scorn 
science,  and  that  their  malevolent  discourse  concerns  no  men 
of  culture. 

'  A  famous  shoemaker  in  Moscow  ;  died  in  1729. 
'  A  German  tailor  of  Moscow. 


228  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Your  judgment  is  excellent,  correct;  and  thus  it  ought  to 
be,  but  in  our  days  the  words  of  the  ill-disposed  control  the 
wise.  Besides,  the  sciences  have  other  ill-wishers  than  those 
whom,  for  shortness'  sake,  I  merely  mentioned  or,  to  tell 
the  truth,  dared  to  mention.  There  are  many  more.  The 
holy  keepers  of  the  keys  of  heaven  and  those  to  whom  The- 
mis has  entrusted  the  golden  scales  little  love,  nearly  all  of 
them,  the  true  adornment  of  the  mind. 

You  want  to  be  an  archbishop .'  Don  a  surplice,  above  it 
let  a  gorgeous  chasuble  adorn  your  body,  put  a  golden 
chain '  around  your  neck,  cover  your  head  with  a  high  hat, 
your  belly  with  a  beard,  order  the  crosier  to  be  carried  in 
pomp  before  you;  place  yourself  comfortably  in  your  car- 
riage and,  as  your  heart  bursts  with  anger,  cast  your  bene- 
dictions to  the  right  and  left.  By  these  signs  you  will  easily 
be  recognised  as  the  archpriest,  and  they  will  reverently  call 
you  "Father."  But  science?  What  has  the  Church  to 
gain  from  it  ?  Some  priest  might  forget  a  part,  if  he  wrote 
out  his  sermon,  and  thus  there  would  be  a  loss  of  the  Church's 
revenues,  and  these  are  the  Church's  main  privileges  and 
greatest  glory. 

Do  you  wish  to  become  a  judge  ?  Don  a  wig  full  of  locks, 
scold  him  who  comes  with  a  complaint  but  with  empty  hands, 
let  your  heart  firmly  ignore  the  tears  of  the  poor,  and  sleep 
in  your  arm-chair  when  the  clerk  reads  the  brief.  When 
someone  mentions  to  you  the  civil  code,  or  the  law  of  nature, 
or  the  people's  rights,  spit  in  his  face;  say  that  he  lies  at 
random  and  tries  to  impose  an  intolerable  burden  on  the 
judges;  that  it  is  the  clerk's  business  to  rummage  through 
mountains  of  documents,  but  that  it  sufl&ces  for  a  judge  to 
announce  his  sentence. 

The  time  has  not  come  down  to  us  when  Wisdom  presided 
over  everything  and  distributed  wreaths,  and  was  the  only 
means  for  advancement.  The  golden  age  has  not  come 
down  to  our  generation.     Pride,    indolence,  wealth,  have 

'  With  the  image  of  the  Holy  Virgin  or  the  Saviour, — the  so-called 
panagia. 


Prince  Anti6kh  Kantemir  229 

vanquished  wisdom ;  ignorance  has  taken  the  place  of  wis- 
dom :  it  glorifies  itself  under  the  mitre,  walks  in  embroidered 
gowns,  sits  in  judgment  behind  the  red  cloth,  boldly  leads 
armies.  Science  trudges  along  in  rags  and  patches,  and  is 
driven  from  nearly  all  houses  with  contumely ;  they  do  not 
want  to  know  her  and  evade  her  friendship,  just  as  those 
who  have  suffered  upon  the  sea  avoid  service  on  a  ship.  All 
cry:  "  We  see  no  good  in  science;  the  heads  of  learned  men 
are  full,  but  their  hands  are  empty." 

If  one  knows  how  to  shuffle  cards,  to  tell  the  flavours  of 
various  wines,  can  dance,  plays  three  pieces  on  the  flute, 
cleverly  matches  the  colours  in  his  apparel,  for  him,  even  in 
his  tender  years,  all  high  honours  are  but  a  small  reward, 
and  he  regards  himself  to  be  the  equal  of  the  Seven 
Sages. 

"There  is  no  justice  in  the  world!"  cries  the  brainless 
subdeacon.  "  They  have  not  yet  made  me  a  bishop,  though 
I  read  fluently  the  Book  of  the  Hours,'  the  Psalter  and  the 
Epistles,  and  even  Chrysosto'm  without  stumbling,  al- 
though I  do  not  understand  him." 

The  warrior  grumbles  because  he  has  not  yet  charge  of  his 
regiment,  though  he  knows  how  to  sign  his  name.  The 
scribe  is  angry  because  he  is  not  yet  seated  behind  the  red 
cloth,  though  he  is  able  to  make  a  copy  in  a  clear  hand. 
He  thinks  it  an  insult  to  grow  old  in  obscurity,  though  he 
counts  seven  boyars  in  his  family  and  is  possessed  of  two 
thousand  village  houses,  even  though  he  can  neither  read 
nor  write. 

Hearing  such  words,  and  seeing  such  examples,  be  silent, 
Mind,  complain  not  of  your  obscurity.  His  life  has  no  ter- 
rors, though  he  may  deem  it  hard,  who  silently  retires  to  his 
quiet  nook.  If  gracious  Wisdom  has  taught  you  anything, 
rejoice  in  secret,  meditating  by  yourself  over  the  advantages 
of  learning.  Explain  it  not  to  others,  lest,  instead  of 
praises  which  you  expect,  you  be  roundly  scolded. 

'  Prayer-book  containing  the  prayers  for  every  hour  ;  it  was  com- 
monly used  as  a  text-book  for  reading. 


230  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Vasili  Kirillovicb  Tredyak6vski.  (1703-1769.) 

Like  Loniou6sov,  Tredyak6vski  was  of  humble  origin,  his  father 
having  been  a  priest  in  the  city  of  Astrakhan  ;  also,  like  his  more 
illustrious  colleague  a  few  years  later,  he  walked  to  Moscow  and  there 
entered  the  School  of  the  Redeemer.  He  later  passed  a  few  years 
abroad,  where  he  became  acquainted  with  French  literature.  Upon 
his  return  to  St.  Petersburg  in  1730,  he  translated  a  French  book  ;  in 
this  translation  the  spoken  Russian  is  for  the  first  time  used,  free  from 
Slavic  influence.  Even  before  this,  Tredyak6vski  had  written  verses 
in  the  syllabic  versification,  but  in  1735  he  discovered  that  the  tonic 
versification  was  the  only  one  adapted  to  the  Russian  language,  and 
at  once  set  out  to  write  in  that  measure.  His  chief  deserts  do  not  lie 
in  poetry,  for  his  verses  show  an  absolute  absence  of  talent,  and  he 
later  became  a  byword  for  insipidity.  He  was  the  first  man  to  p>oint 
out  the  necessity  of  using  the  Russian  language  for  literary  purposes, 
and  to  indicate  the  line  in  which  Russian  poetry  must  develop.  By 
his  enormous  industry  in  translating  from  foreign  languages  he  be- 
came an  important  factor  in  the  dissemination  of  learning.  The  fol- 
lowing ode  is  really  an  imitation  of  Boileau's  Sur  la  prise  de  Namur. 

ODE  ON  THE  SURRENDER  OF  DANTZIG 

What  strange  intoxication  emboldens  my  voice  to  singing  ? 
Muses,  dwellers  of  Parnassus,  does  not  my  mind  perceive 
you  ?  I  hear  your  sweet-sounding  strings,  your  beautiful 
measure  and  moods,  and  a  fire  arises  in  my  thoughts.  O 
nations,  listen  all!  Stormy  winds,  do  not  blow:  my  verse 
sings  of  Anna. 

Pindar,  and  after  him  Flaccus,  have  in  high- flowing  diction 
risen  from  the  mist  to  the  bright  stars,  like  swift  eagles. 
But  if  my  song  to-day  were  to  equal  my  sincere  and  eternal 
zeal  for  Anna,  Orpheus  of  Thrace  and  Amphion  of  Thebes 
would  be  in  ecstasy  from  it. 

Now  I  strike  the  dulcet  lyre  to  celebrate  the  magnificent 
victory  to  the  greater  downfall  of  the  enemy.  Oh,  what 
victorious  might  has  adorned  our  joy,  for  the  might  of  the 
adversary  was  equal  to  ours.  There  is  no  limit  to  our  pure 
joy  that  surpasses  all  example,  that  has  given  balm  to  our 
hearts. 

Has  Neptune  himself  built  the  walls,  those  that  stand  by 
the  sea?     Do  they  not  resemble  the  Trojan  walls,  for  they 


Vasili  Kirillovich  Tredyak6vski       231 

would  not  let  in  the  innumerable  Russian  army,  mightily 
opposing  it  ?  Do  not  all  call  the  Vistula  Skamander  ?  Do 
they  not  all  regard  Stoltzenberg  as  Mount  Ida  ? 

That  is  not  Troy,  the  mother  of  fables:  there  is  not  one 
Achilles  here;  everyone  of  the  rank  and  file  is  in  bravery 
a  Hercules.  What  might  is  that  that  hurls  lightning  ?  Is 
it  not  Minerva  gleaming  in  her  helmet  ?  'T  is  evident  from 
her  looks,  from  her  whole  appearance,  that  she  is  a  goddess: 
without  her  aegis  she  is  terrible, — 't  is  Anna,  chief  of  all  em- 
presses. 

That  also  is  a  Russian  army  that  has  closely  invested 
Dantzig,  the  city  of  the  foe.  Each  warrior,  hastening  to  the 
battle,  it  behooves  to  call  a  Mars.  Each  is  ready  boldly  to 
shed  his  blood,  or  to  crown  the  undertaking  for  Anna's  sake. 
Each  one  is  strong  with  Anna's  fortune:  Anna  is  their 
strong  hope;  and,  knowing  that  Anna  is  gracious  to  them, 
they  are  faithful  and  not  undecided. 

Golden  beam  of  the  European  and  Asian  Sun !  O  Russian 
monarch,  the  key  to  your  happiness  is  the  kindness  to  your 
subjects  and  your  benign  rule!  The  whole  world  honours 
your  name,  and  the  universe  will  not  hold  your  glory  seeing 
that,  O  beautiful  flower  of  virtues! 

What  do  I  see  ?  Does  not  my  eye  deceive  me  ?  A  youth 
has  opposed  himself  to  Hercules,  lifting  high  his  brows 
behind  ramparts,  beyond  the  river!  'T  is  Dantzig,  having 
taken  foolish  counsel,  as  if  drunk  with  heady  wine,  that 
dares  to  oppose  the  great  autocrat!  In  its  blindness  it  does 
not  see  the  abysses,  nor  all  death-bearing  valleys. 

It  receives  Stanislaus  in  its  midst,  who  seeks  twice  a  crown, 
and  hopes  to  be  defended  to  the  end  through  nearby  Nep- 
tune :  fearing  the  Russian  thunder  it  invokes  the  aid  of  a 
distant  people  from  the  banks  of  the  Seine :  but  they  beat 
the  drums  at  the  waters  of  Wechselmiinde  for  a  retreat. 

Dantzig  is  proud  of  its  fire  and  steel,  and  its  regiments  of 
soldiers,  and  directs  its  engines  of  war  against  the  Russians 
on  the  hills.  Being  rich  in  stores  it  calls  to  Stanislaus;  it  in 
vain  implores  its  soldiers  that  have  no  brave  hearts,  but 
think  only  of  this,  how  to  save  their  lives,  and  run. 


232  The  Eighteenth  Century 

O  Dantzig,  oh!  What  are  you  daring!  Come  to  your 
senses,  collect  yourself,  for  you  are  hurling  yourself  to  de- 
struction. "Why  have  you  stopped?  You  are  hesitating! 
Surrender !  Wherefore  have  you  such  boldness  and  do  not 
tremble  before  Anna  ?  Many  tribes  of  their  own  free  will 
and  without  strife  submit  to  her:  China  bows  down  before 
her  twice,  in  order  not  to  pay  her  tribute. 

Nowhere  has  there  been  the  like  of  Anna  in  kindness,  nor 
is  there  anywhere  in  the  world  one  so  able  to  wage  war  with 
the  unyielding.  Her  sword  wound  with  the  olive  branch  is 
only  ominous  in  war.  Abandon,  Dantzig,  your  evil  pur- 
pose: you  see,  the  Alcidae  are  ready  with  cruel  miseries  for 
your  inhabitants.  You  hear  Anna's  angry  voice :  save  your- 
self! 

You  are  closely  pressed  by  thousands  of  athletes;  you  are 
mightily  struck  by  the  flash  of  angry  lightnings.  You  can- 
not withstand:  the  thunder  is  ready  not  in  jest.  Your  ram- 
parts are  without  defence;  the  earth  opens  up  abysses;  roofs 
fly  into  the  air;  your  walls  are  emptied  of  men. 

If  all  the  powers  combined  were  to  aid  you,  O  Dantzig;  if 
the  elements  defended  you;  if  from  all  the  ends  of  the  world 
soldiers  came  to  spill  their  blood  for  you, — yet  nothing  would 
be  able  to  save  you  from  suffering  and  to  stop  your  misery, 
and  wring  you  out  of  Anna's  hands. 

Your  adversaries  see  to-day  the  bravery  of  Russian  soldiers: 
neither  fire  nor  water  harms  them,  and  they  advance  with 
open  breasts.  How  readily  they  advance!  How  forgetful 
they  are  of  their  lives!  The  cannon's  thunder  frightens 
them  not!  They  make  the  assault,  as  if  going  to  a  wedding 
feast!  Only  through  smoky  darkness  one  may  see  that 
their  brows  are  facing  the  forts. 

Within  the  walls  of  the  wretched  city  all  are  struck  down 
with  fear:  everything  falls  and  flies  to  dust, — the  besiegers 
are  on  the  walls!  The  last  magistrates,  seeing  from  their 
tower  their  vain  hope  in  the  distant  armies  and  Stanislaus 
who  had  taken  refuge  within  thieir  walls,  besides  themselves, 
exclaim :  '  *  We  are  fated  to  fall ! ' ' 

What  I  have  prophesied  is  about  to  happen, — Dantzig 


Princess  Natcilya  Borisovna  Dolgoruki     233 

begins  to  tremble :  all  think  of  surrendering,  as  before  they 
all  decided  to  fight,  and  of  saving  themselves  from  the  en- 
gines of  war,  from  flying  bombs  and  from  all  the  pests  the 
city  is  oppressed  by.  All  cry,  for  the  burden  was  too  heavy 
to  carry,  "It  is  time  now  to  open  the  gates  to  Anna's 
army, ' ' 

So  it  is  done:  the  sign  for  surrender  is  given,  and  Dantzig 
is  at  our  feet!  Our  soldiers  are  happy  in  their  success;  the 
fires  have  gone  out ;  there  is  an  end  to  misery.  Immediately 
Glory  took  its  flight  and  announced  with  its  thundering 
trumpet  :  "  Anna  is  fortunate  !  Anna  is  unconquerable; 
Anna,  exalted  by  all,  is  their  common  glory  and  honour. ' ' 

Lyre !  abate  your  song :  it  is  not  possible  for  me  properly 
to  praise  diadem-bearing  Anna  and  her  great  goodness,  any 
more  than  I  can  fly.  It  is  Anna's  good  fortune  that  she  is 
loved  by  God.  He  always  watches  over  her,  and  through 
Him  she  is  victorious.  Who  would  dare  to  oppose  her? 
May  Anna  live  many  years! 

Princess  Natdlya  Borisovna  Dolgoriiki.    (1714-1771.) 

The  Princess  Dolgortiki  was  the  daughter  of  Count  Sherem^tev, 
■who  was  intimately  connected  with  the  reforms  of  Peter  the  Great. 
In  1729  she  was  betrothed  to  Prince  Ivdn  Aleksy^evich  Dolgoruki, 
the  favourite  of  Peter  II. ;  Feofdn  Prokop6vich  performed  the  cere- 
mony of  the  betrothal,  and  the  whole  Imperial  family  and  the  most 
distinguished  people  of  the  capital  were  present.  A  few  days  later 
Peter  II.  died,  and  Anna  lodnnovna  ascended  the  throne.  Dolgortiki 
was  banished  to  Siberia,  and  she  married  him  in  order  to  follow  him 
into  exile.  They  passed  eight  years  in  the  Government  of  Tob61sk, 
when  her  husband  was  taken  to  N6vgorod  and  executed.  For  three 
years  she  remained  in  ignorance  of  his  fate,  when  the  Empress  Eliza- 
beth permitted  her  to  return  to  St.  Petersburg.  In  1758  Princess 
Dolgoruki  entered  a  monastery  at  Kiev,  and  ten  years  later  she  wrote 
her  Memoirs,  at  the  request  of  her  son  Michael.  In  1810  her  grand- 
son, the  poet  Dolgorfiki  (seep.  422),  had  these  Memoirs -pnutedi.  The 
Princess  Dolgortiki  has  become  a  synonym  for  a  devoted  Russian 
woman,  and  she  has  frequently  been  celebrated  in  poetry,  especially 
by  Ryly^ev,  Kozl6v  and  Nekrdsov.  There  is  also  an  English  book 
treating  of  her  life:  The  Life  and  Times  of  Nathalia  Borissovna, 
Princess  Dolgorookov,  by  J.  A.  Heard,  I,oudou,  1857. 


234  The  Eighteenth  Century 

FROM   HER   "MEMOIRS" 

My  mind  totters  when  I  recall  all  that  has  befallen  me 
after  my  happiness  which  at  that  time  appeared  to  me  to  be 
eternal.  I  did  not  have  a  friend  to  teach  me  that  I  ought 
to  walk  more  warily  on  the  slippery  road  of  pleasure.  My 
I/>rd!  What  a  threatening  storm  arose  against  me,  and 
what  calamities  from  the  whole  world  befell  me!  Lord! 
Give  me  strength  to  tell  of  my  sufferings,  that  I  may  describe 
them  for  the  information  of  the  curious  and  the  consola- 
tion of  the  afflicted  who,  thinking  of  me,  might  be  consoled. 
I  have  passed  all  the  days  of  my  life  in  misery,  and  have 
experienced  all:  persecution,  exile,  want,  separation  from 
my  beloved  one, — everything  that  one  can  think  of.  I  do 
not  boast  of  my  endurance,  but  will  boast  of  the  mercy  of  the 
Lord  who  has  given  me  so  much  strength  to  bear  all  that  I 
have  borne  up  to  now.  It  would  be  impossible  for  a  man  to 
endure  such  strokes,  if  the  power  of  the  Lord  did  not 
strengthen  him  from  on  high.  Consider  my  bringing  up, 
and  my  present  state! 

Here  is  the  beginning  of  my  misery  that  I  had  never  ex- 
pected. Our  Emperor  had  departed  from  this  life,  and  be- 
fore I  had  expected  it,  there  was  a  change  of  the  crown. 
It  evidently  had  pleased  God  to  chastise  the  people  for  their 
sins:  a  merciful  Tsar  was  taken  away  from  them,  and  great 
was  the  weeping  in  the  nation.  All  my  relatives  came  to- 
gether, were  sorrowing  and  weeping,  and  wondering  how 
to  announce  to  me  the  calamity.  I  generally  slept  late, 
until  nine  o'clock;  as  soon  as  I  awoke,  I  noticed  that  the 
eyes  of  all  were  in  tears;  though  they  were  careful  to  hide 
it,  yet  it  was  quite  obvious  they  had  been  weeping.  I  knew 
that  the  Tsar  was  sick,  and  even  very  sick,  but  I  had  great 
hope  the  Lord  would  not  abandon  His  orphans.  They  were 
of  necessity  compelled  to  tell  me  the  truth.  As  soon  as  this 
news  reached  my  ears,  I  lost  my  consciousness;  when  I  re- 
gained it,  I  kept  on  repeating:  "  I  am  lost,  lost!  "  No  other 
words  left  my  lips  but  "  lost."  However  they  tried  to  con- 
sole me,  they  could  not  stop  my  weeping,  nor  keep  me 
quiet.     I  knew  too  well  the  custom  of  my  country,  that  all 


Princess  Natalya  Borisovna  Dolgoriiki     235 

the  favourites  perish  with  the  death  of  their  Emperors: 
what  could  I,  then,  expect  ?  Yet,  I  did  not  think  that  the 
end  would  be  as  bad  as  it  actually  was,  for  though  my  fianc6 
was  beloved  by  the  Tsar,  and  had  many  distinctions,  and 
all  kinds  of  affairs  of  State  had  been  entrusted  to  him,  yet  I 
placed  some  hope  in  his  honest  acts.  Knowing  his  inno- 
cence, and  that  he  had  not  been  tainted  by  any  improper 
conduct,  it  appeared  to  me  that  a  man  would  not  be  accused 
without  a  proper  judicial  trial,  or  be  subject  to  disfavour, 
and  be  deprived  of  his  honours  and  possessions;  I  learned 
only  later  that  truth  is  not  helpful  in  misfortune. 

So  I  wept  unconsolably.  My  relatives,  in  their  search  for 
means  of  consoling  me,  pointed  out  to  me  that  I  was  yet  a 
young  person,  and  had  no  reason  to  grieve  so  senselessly; 
that  I  could  reject  my  fiance  if  things  went  badly  with  him, 
and  that  there  were  other  suitors  who  were  not  of  less  worth 
than  he,  even  if  they  had  not  his  high  honours.  And  in- 
deed there  was  a  suitor  who  was  very  anxious  to  have  me, 
but  I  did  not  like  him,  though  all  my  relatives  wanted  me 
to  marry  him.  That  proposition  weighed  so  heavily  upon 
me,  that  I  was  not  able  to  answer  them.  Consider  yourself, 
what  kind  of  a  consolation  that  could  be  to  me,  and  how  dis- 
honourable such  an  act  would  have  been, — to  be  ready  to 
marry  him  when  he  was  great,  but  to  refuse  him  the  mo- 
ment he  was  cast  into  misfortune.  I  could  not  agree  to  any 
such  unscrupulous  advice;  I  resolved  at  once  to  live  and  die 
together  with  him  to  whom  I  had  given  my  heart,  and  not 
to  allow  anyone  else  to  share  my  love.  It  was  not  my  habit 
to  love  one  to-day  and  another  to-morrow;  such  is  the 
fashion  in  the  world,  but  I  proved  to  the  world  that  I  was 
faithful  in  love.  I  have  been  a  companion  to  my  husband 
in  all  his  troubles,  and  I  am  telling  the  truth  when  I  assert 
that  in  all  my  misery  I  never  repented  having  married 
hira,  and  did  not  murmur  against  the  Lord  for  it.  He  is  my 
witness:  I  bore  everything  while  loving  him,  and  as  much 
as  was  in  my  power,  I  kept  up  his  courage.  My  relatives 
were  evidently  of  a  different  opinion,  and  therefore  advised 
me  otherwise,  or  maybe  they  simply  pitied  me. 


236  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Towards  evening  my  fiauc6  came  to  my  house,  and  com- 
plained to  me  of  his  misfortune.  He  told  me  of  the  pitiable 
death  of  the  Emperor,  who  did  not  lose  consciousness  to 
the  last,  and  bid  him  good-bye.  While  he  told  me  all 
this,  we  both  wept,  and  swore  to  each  other  that  nothing 
should  separate  us  but  death ;  I  was  ready  to  go  with  him 
through  all  the  terrestrial  misfortunes.  Thus  it  grew  worse 
from  hour  to  hour.  Where  were  those  who  formerly  had 
sought  our  protection  and  friendship  ?  They  had  all  hid 
themselves,  and  my  relatives  stood  aloof  from  me ;  they  ail 
left  me  for  the  new  favourites,  and  all  were  afraid  to  meet 
me,  lest  they  should  suffer  through  the  suspicion  under 
which  I  was.  It  were  better  for  a  person  not  to  be  born  in 
this  world,  if  he  is  to  be  great  for  a  while,  and  then  will  fall 
into  disgrace:  all  will  soon  despise  him,  and  no  one  will 
speak  to  him. 

Here  we  remained  about  a  week,  while  a  vessel  was  being 
fitted  out  to  take  us  down  the  river.  All  that  was  terrible 
to  me,  and  I  ought  to  pass  it  in  silence.  My  governess,  to 
whose  care  I  had  been  entrusted  by  my  mother,  did  not  wish 
to  leave  me,  and  had  come  with  me  to  the  village.  She 
thought  that  we  would  pass  all  the  days  of  our  misfortune 
there;  but  things  turned  out  differently,  and  she  was  com- 
pelled to  leave  me.  She  was  a  foreigner,  and  could  not 
endure  all  the  hardships;  yet,  as  much  as  she  could  she  did 
for  me  in  those  days:  went  on  the  ill-starred  vessel  that  was 
to  take  us  away,  fixed  everything  there,  hung  the  walls  with 
tapestry  to  keep  out  the  dampness,  that  I  might  not  catch 
a  cold;  she  placed  a  pavilion  on  board,  partitioned  off  a 
room,  in  which  we  were  to  live,  and  wept  for  me  all  the  time. 

At  last  there  arrived  the  bitter  day  when  we  must  de- 
part. We  were  given  ten  people  to  attend  on  us,  and  a 
woman  for  each  person,  in  all,  five.  I  had  intended  to  take 
my  maid  with  me,  but  my  sisters-in-law  dissuaded  me:  they 
gave  me  theirs  to  take  her  place,  and  gave  me  another  maid  for 
an  assistant  to  the  laundresses,  who  could  do  nothing  else  but 
wash  clothes;  I  was  compelled  to  agree  to  their  arrangement. 


Princess  Natalya  Borisovna  Dolgoriiki     237 

My  maid  wept,  and  did  not  want  to  part  from  me.  I  asked 
her  not  to  importune  me  with  her  tears,  and  to  take  things 
as  fate  had  decreed.  Such  was  my  equipment:  I  had  not 
even  my  own  serf,  and  not  a  penny  of  money.  My  governess 
gave  me  every  kopek  she  had;  it  was  not  a  great  sum, 
only  sixty  roubles,  and  with  that  I  departed.  I  do  not  re- 
member whether  we  went  on  foot  to  the  vessel,  or  whether 
we  drove  to  it  in  a  carriage.  The  river  was  not  far  from 
our  house;  there  I  bid  good-bye  to  my  family,  for  they  had 
been  permitted  to  see  us  off. 

I  stepped  into  the  cabin,  and  saw  how  it  was  fixed  up: 
my  governess  had  done  all  she  could  to  help  me  in  my  evil 
plight.  I  had  to  thank  her  here  for  the  love  she  had  shown 
to  me,  and  for  the  education  she  had  given  me ;  I  also  bid 
her  farewell,  not  expecting  ever  to  see  her  again:  we 
grasped  each  other's  necks,  and  my  hands  grew  stiff  with 
cold,  and  I  do  not  remember  how  we  were  torn  from  each 
other.  I  regained  consciousness  in  the  place  that  served  as 
a  cabin.  I  was  lying  in  the  bed,  and  my  husband  was 
standing  over  me,  holding  me  by  my  hand,  and  making  me 
smell  some  salts.  I  jumped  down  from  my  bed,  ran  up- 
stairs, thinking  that  I  would  still  catch  a  glimpse  of  it  all, 
but  those  were  all  unfamiliar  scenes, — we  had  sailed  away  a 
long  distance.  Then  I  noticed  that  I  had  lost  a  pearl  that  I 
wore  on  my  finger;  I  evidently  dropped  it  in  the  water  as 
I  bade  my  family  farewell;  I  was  not  even  sorry  for  it, — 
other  thoughts  were  occupying  me:  life  was  lost,  and  I  was 
left  alone,  had  lost  all  for  the  sake  of  one  man.  And  thus 
we  sailed  all  night  long. 

The  next  day  there  was  a  stiff  breeze;  there  was  a  storm 
on  the  river,  and  the  thunder  sounded  more  terrible  on  the 
water  than  on  land,  and  I  am  naturally  very  much  afraid  of 
thunder.  The  vessel  rolled  from  side  to  side,  and  every 
time  it  thundered  people  fell  down.  My  younger  sister-in- 
law  was  very  much  frightened,  and  wept  and  cried  aloud. 
I  thought  the  world  had  come  to  an  end ;  we  were  compelled 
to  make  for  the  shore,  where  we  passed  a  sleepless  night  in 
terror.     As  soon  as  it  dawned,  the  storm  subsided;   we 


238  The  Eighteenth  Century 

continued  our  voyage,  which  lasted  three  weeks.  Whenever 
the  weather  was  quiet,  I  sat  near  the  window  in  the  cabin; 
I  wept  or  washed  my  kerchiefs,  while  the  water  was  nearby. 
At  times  I  bought  a  sturgeon,  and,  tying  him  to  a  rope,  let 
him  swim  by  my  side,  so  that  I  was  not  the  only  captive, 
but  the  sturgeon  with  me.  Whenever  the  wind  began  to 
rock  the  boat,  ray  head  began  to  ache,  and  I  felt  nauseated ; 
then  they  took  me  out  on  deck,  where  I  lay  unconscious 
until  the  wind  subsided,  being  covered  with  a  fur  coat:  on 
the  water  the  winds  are  piercing.  Often  he  sat  by  my  side, 
to  keep  me  company.  When  the  storm  was  over,  I  rested ; 
but  I  could  not  eat  much  from  nausea. 

Here  is  what  once  happened  to  us:  There  was  a  frightful 
storm,  and  there  was  not  a  person  on  board  who  knew  where 
there  were  the  deep  places  and  the  shallows,  or  where  we 
could  land.  The  sailors  were  merely  peasants  that  had  been 
taken  from  the  plough,  and  who  were  sailing  where  the  wind 
bore  them.  It  was  getting  dark,  the  night  was  near,  and 
the  wind  did  not  permit  us  to  make  a  landing.  They  threw 
out  an  anchor  in  the  middle  of  the  stream,  where  it  was 
deepest,  and  the  anchor  was  carried  away.  The  companion 
of  my  misfortunes  would  not  let  me  go  on  deck,  for  he  was 
afraid  that  I  would  be  crushed  in  the  turmoil.  The  people 
were  running  all  about  the  boat:  some  were  pumping  out 
the  water,  others  were  tying  up  the  anchor;  all  were  at 
work.  While  nothing  was  being  done  successfully,  the  boat 
was  suddenly  drawn  into  an  eddy.  I  heard  a  terrible  noise, 
and  did  not  know  what  had  happened.  I  arose  to  look  out: 
our  boat  was  standing  as  if  in  a  box,  between  two  shores.  I 
asked  where  we  were,  but  nobody  could  tell  me,  for  they 
did  not  know  themselves.  On  one  shore  there  was  nothing 
but  a  birch  wood,  but  it  was  not  a  very  thick  forest.  The 
earth  on  that  shore  began  to  settle,  and  the  forest  slid  several 
fathoms  into  the  river,  or  eddy,  where  we  were  standing. 
The  forest  rustled  terribly  under  our  very  boat,  and  then 
we  were  lifted  up,  and  again  drawn  into  the  eddy.  Thus  it 
lasted  for  a  long  time.  All  thought  that  we  would  perish, 
and  the  sailors  were  ready  to  save  their  lives  in  boats,  and 


Princess  Natalya  Borisovna  Dolgoriiki     239 

to  leave  us  to  death.  Finally,  so  much  of  the  land  was  torn 
loose  that  only  a  small  strip  was  left,  and  beyond  it  we  could 
see  some  water,  supposedly  a  lake.  If  that  strip  were  car- 
ried away,  we  would  be  in  that  lake.  The  wind  was  awful, 
and  our  end  would  certainly  have  come,  if  God's  mercy  had 
not  saved  us.  The  wind  calmed  down,  and  no  more  land  was 
being  carried  away,  and  we  were  saved;  at  daylight  we  rode 
out  of  the  eddy  into  the  river,  and  continued  our  voyage. 
That  eddy  had  carried  part  of  my  life  away ;  yet  I  endured 
it  all,  all  the  terrors,  for  the  end  of  my  sufferings  was  not 
yet  to  be:  I  was  preparing  myself  for  greater  woes,  and  God 
gave  me  strength  for  them. 


We  reached  the  provincial  town  of  the  island  where  we 
were  to  reside.  We  were  told  that  the  way  to  that  island 
was  by  water,  and  that  a  change  would  be  made  here:  the 
ofl&cer  of  the  guard  was  to  return,  and  we  were  to  be  turned 
over  to  an  ofl&cer  of  the  local  garrison,  with  a  detachment  of 
twenty-four  soldiers.  We  stayed  here  a  week,  while  they 
were  fixing  the  boat  that  was  to  take  us  there,  and  we  were 
transferred  from  hand  to  hand,  like  prisoners.  It  was  such 
a  pitiable  sight  that  even  a  heart  of  stone  would  be  softened. 
At  this  departure,  the  ofl&cer  wept,  and  said:  "  Now  you  will 
suffer  all  kinds  of  insult.  These  are  not  ordinary  men:  they 
will  treat  you  like  common  people,  and  will  show  you  no 
indulgence."  We  all  wept,  as  if  we  were  parting  from  a 
relative.  We  had  at  least  gotten  used  to  him.  However 
badly  we  were  off,  yet  he  had  known  us  in  our  fortune,  and 
he  felt  ashamed  to  treat  us  harshly. 

When  they  had  fixed  the  boat,  a  new  commander  took  us 
to  it.  It  was  quite  a  procession.  A  crowd  of  soldiers  fol- 
lowed us,  as  if  we  were  robbers.  I  walked  with  downcast 
eyes,  and  did  not  look  around:  there  was  a  great  number 
of  curious  people  along  the  road  on  which  they  led  us.  We 
arrived  at  the  boat.  I  was  frightened  when  I  saw  it,  for  it 
was  quite  different  from  the  former  one:  out  of  disrespect  to 
us,  they  gave  us  a  worthless  one.     The  boat  was  in  accord- 


240  The  Eighteenth  Century 

ance  with  the  designation  which  we  bore,  and  they  did  not 
care,  if  we  were  to  perish  the  next  day:  we  were  simply 
prisoners, — there  was  no  other  name  for  us.  Oh,  what  can 
there  be  worse  than  that  appellation  ?  The  honour  we  re- 
ceived was  in  conformity  with  it!  The  boards  on  the  boat 
were  all  warped,  and  you  could  sec  daylight  through  them ; 
the  moment  a  breeze  began  to  blow,  it  creaked.  It  was 
black  with  age  and  soot:  labourers  had  been  making  fires  in 
it,  and  no  one  would  have  thought  to  travel  in  it.  It  had 
been  abandoned,  and  was  intended  for  kindling  wood.  As 
they  were  in  a  hurry  with  us,  they  did  not  dare  keep  us  back 
long,  and  gave  us  the  first  boat  they  could  find.  But  maybe 
they  had  express  orders  to  drown  us.  God  having  willed 
otherwise,  we  arrived  safely  at  the  appointed  place. 

We  were  compelled  to  obey  a  new  commander.  We  tried 
all  means  to  gain  his  favour,  but  in  vain.  How  could  we 
have  found  any  means?  God  grant  us  to  suflFer  with  a 
clever  man!  But  he  was  a  stupid  oflBcer.  He  had  risen 
from  a  common  peasant  to  be  a  captain.  He  thought  he 
was  a  great  man,  and  that  we  must  be  kept  as  severely  as 
possible,  since  we  were  criminals.  He  regarded  it  below  his 
dignity  to  speak  to  us;  yet  in  spite  of  all  his  arrogance,  he 
came  to  dine  with  us.  Consider  for  yourself  whether  the 
man  had  any  sense  from  the  way  he  was  dressed:  he  wore 
his  uniform  right  over  his  shirt,  and  slippers  on  his  bare 
feet;  and  thus  he  sat  down  to  dinner  with  us!  I  was  younger 
than  the  rest,  and  uncontrollable:  I  could  not  help  laughing 
as  I  looked  at  his  ridiculous  get-up.  He  noticed  that  I  was 
laughing  at  him,  and  said,  himself  smiling:  "  Lucky  for 
you  that  my  books  have  burnt,  or  I  should  have  a  talk  with 
you ! ' '  However  bitter  I  felt,  I  tried  to  get  him  to  talk 
more;  but  he  never  uttered  another  word.  Just  think  what 
a  commander  we  were  given  to  watch  us  in  all  we  did! 
What  were  they  afraid  of?  That  we  would  run  away  ? 
Not  their  watch  kept  us  back,  but  our  innocence:  we  were 
sure  that  in  time  they  would  see  their  error,  and  would 
return  us  to  our  former  possessions.  Besides,  we  were  re- 
strained by  the  fact  that  we  had  a  large  family.     And  thus 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomon6sov        241 

we  sailed  with  the  stupid  commander  a  whole  month  until 
we  arrived  at  the  town  where  we  were  to  reside. 

Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomon6sov.     (1711-1765.) 

Lomon6sov  was  born  in  the  village  of  Denisovka,  in  the  Govern- 
ment of  Arkbdngelsk,  not  far  from  the  spot  where,  one  hundred  and 
fifty  years  before,  the  English  had  rediscovered  Russia.  In  his  letters 
to  Shuvdlov,  Lom6nosov  tells  us  of  the  difl&culties  with  which  he  had 
to  contend  at  home  and  at  the  School  of  the  Redeemer  at  Moscow. 
His  brilliant  progress  caused  him  to  be  chosen  among  the  first  men  to 
be  sent  abroad  at  Government  expense  to  study  mining,  and  to  get 
acquainted  with  mining  methods  in  Holland,  England  and  France. 
In  spite  of  insuflBcient  support  from  the  Government  and  a  roving  life 
at  German  universities,  I,omon6sov  made  excellent  progress  in  philo- 
sophy, under  Christian  Wolflf  at  Marburg,  and  in  the  sciences  at 
Freiburg.  After  marrying  a  German  woman,  wandering  about  and 
starving,  Lomon6sov  returned  to  St.  Petersburg.  Before  reaching 
home,  he  bad  sent  to  St.  Petersburg  his  Ode  on  the  Occasion  of  the 
Capture  of  Khotin.  It  was  the  first  time  the  tonic  versification  was 
successfully  applied  to  the  language,  and  though  the  diction  of  the 
ode  is  turgid  and  the  enthusiasm  forced,  yet  it  became  the  model  for  a 
vast  family  of  odes  and  eulogies,  generally  written  to  order,  until 
Derzhdvin  introduced  a  new  style  with  his  Felitsa. 

Upon  his  return,  Lomon6sov  became  attached  to  the  University, 
which  was  mainly  filled  with  German  professors.  His  own  unamiable 
temper,  combined  with  the  not  more  amiable  characters  of  German 
colleagues,  was  the  cause  of  endless  quarrels  and  exasperations. 
Under  the  most  depressing  difficulties,  Lomon6sov,  the  first  learned 
Russian,  developed  a  prodigious  activity.  He  perfected  the  Russian 
literary  language,  lectured  on  rhetoric  and  the  sciences  and  wrote 
text-books,  odes  and  dramas.  For  a  century  he  passed  in  Russia  as  a 
great  poet,  and  his  deserts  in  other  directions  were  disregarded.  But 
a  more  sober  criticism  sees  now  in  Lomon6sov  a  great  scientist  who 
has  increased  knowledge  by  several  discoveries,  and  only  a  second-rate 
poet.  Only  where  he  described  phenomena  of  nature  or  scientific 
facts,  did  he  become  really  inspired,  and  write  poems  that  have  sur- 
vived him.  His  services  to  the  Russian  language  and  literature  are 
many.  He  did  for  them  what  Peter  the  Great  did  for  the  State :  by 
his  own  mighty  personality  and  example  he  put  them  on  the  road 
which  they  have  never  abandoned,  and  though  lacking  originality, 
the  school  of  Lomon6sov  itself  survived  in  Russian  literature  to  the 
end  of  the  eighteenth  century. 

But  few  of  Iyomon6sov's  poems  have  been  translated  into  English. 

VOL.  I. — 16. 


242  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Ode  from  Job^  Morning  Meditations,  Evening  Meditations,  are  given 
in  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the  Russian  Poets,  Part  II.;  the 
Evening  Meditations^  in  another  version,  is  also  given  by  him  in 
Parti. 

Ode  in  Honour  of  the  Empress  Anna,  in  F.  R.  Grahame's  The 
Progress  of  Science,  Art  and  Literature  in  Russia. 

Morning  Meditation,  and  part  of  the  Ode  cm  the  Accession  of 
Catherine  II.,  in  C.  E.  Turner's  Studies  in  Russian  Literature,  and, 
the  same  article,  in  Fraser's  Magazine,  1877. 

A  Chronological  Abridgement  of  Russian  History ;  translated 
from  the  original  Russian  .  .  .  and  continued  to  the  present  by 
the  translator  (J.  G.  A.  F.),  London,  1767. 

I.ETTERS  TO  I.   I.  SHUVAlvOV 


Dear  Sir,  Ivdn  Ivdnovich: — Your  Excellency's  kind  con- 
sideration in  honouring  me  with  a  letter  assures  me,  to  my 
great  joy,  of  your  unchanged  feelings  to  me,  and  this  I  have 
for  many  years  regarded  as  one  of  my  great  fortunes.  How 
could  the  august  generosity  of  our  incomparable  Empress, 
which  I  enjoy  through  your  fatherly  intercession,  divert  me 
from  ray  love  and  zeal  to  the  sciences,  when  extreme  poverty, 
which  I  have  endured  voluntarily  for  the  sake  of  science,  has 
not  been  able  to  distract  me  from  it  ?  I^et  not  your  Excel- 
lency think  it  self-praise  in  me,  if  I  am  bold  to  present  to 
you  my  defence. 

When  I  was  studying  in  the  School  of  the  Redeemer,  I 
was  surrounded  on  all  sides  with  powerful  obstacles  that 
made  against  science,  and  in  those  years  the  influence  of 
these  tendencies  was  almost  insurmountable.  On  the  one 
hand,  my  father,  who  had  never  had  any  other  children  but 
me,  said  that  in  leaving  him  I,  being  his  only  son,  had  left 
all  his  possessions  (such  as  they  were  in  those  parts),  which 
he  had  acquired  for  me  in  the  sweat  of  his  brow,  and  which 
strangers  would  carry  away  after  his  death.     On  the  other 

'  To  his  patron,  upon  his  having  expressed  his  fear  that  Lomon6sov 
would  lose  his  zeal  for  the  sciences  when  he  received  the  gift  of  an 
estate  from  the  Empress. 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomon6sov       243 

hand,  I  was  confronted  with  unspeakable  poverty:  as  I  re- 
ceived but  three  kopeks  a  day,  all  I  dared  spend  a  day 
for  food  was  half  a  kopek  for  bread  and  half  a  kopek  for 
kvas,  while  the  rest  went  for  paper,  shoes  and  other  neces- 
sities. In  this  way  I  passed  five  years,  and  did  not  abandon 
study.  On  the  one  hand,  they  wrote  to  me  that,  knowing  the 
well-being  of  my  father,  well-to-do  people  of  my  village 
would  give  me  their  daughters  in  marriage,  and  in  fact  they 
proposed  them  to  me,  when  I  was  there;  on  the  other  hand, 
the  small  schoolboys  pointed  their  fingers  at  me,  and  cried: 
"  l/ook  at  the  clodhopper  who  has  come  to  study  I^atin  at 
the  age  of  twenty!"  Soon  after  that  I  was  taken  to  St. 
Petersburg,  and  was  sent  abroad,  receiving  an  allowance 
forty  times  as  large  as  before.  But  that  did  not  divert  my 
attention  from  study,  but  proportionately  increased  my 
eagerness,  though  there  is  a  limit  to  my  strength.  I  most 
humbly  beg  your  Excellency  to  feel  sure  that  I  will  do  all 
in  my  power  to  cause  all  those  who  ask  me  to  be  wary  in  my 
zeal  to  have  no  anxiety  about  me,  and  that  those  who  judge 
me  with  malicious  envy  should  be  put  to  shame  in  their  un- 
just opinion,  and  should  learn  that  they  must  not  measure 
others  with  their  yardstick,  and  should  also  remember  that 
the  Muses  love  whom  they  list. 

If  there  is  anyone  who  persists  in  the  opinion  that  a 
learned  man  must  be  poor,  I  shall  quote  on  his  side  Diogenes, 
who  lived  in  a  barrel  with  dogs,  and  left  his  countrymen  a 
few  witticisms  for  the  increase  of  their  pride;  on  the  other 
side  I  shall  mention  Newton,  the  rich  Lord  Boyle,  who  had 
acquired  all  his  glory  in  the  sciences  through  the  use  of  a 
large  sum  of  money ;  Wolff,  who  with  his  lectures  and  pre- 
sents had  accumulated  more  than  five  hundred  thousand, 
and  had  earned,  besides,  a  baronetcy;  Sloane,  in  England, 
who  had  left  such  a  library  that  no  private  individual  was 
able  to  purchase  it,  and  for  which  Parliament  gave  twenty 
thousand  pounds.  I  shall  not  fail  to  carry  out  your  com- 
mands, and  remain  with  deep  respect  your  Excellency's 
most  humble  servant,  Mikhdylo  I,omon6sov.  St.  Peters- 
burg, May  10,  1753. 


244  The  Eighteenth  Century 

II 

Dear  Sir,  Ivdn  Ivdnovich: — I  received  yesterday  your 
Excellency's  letter  of  May  24th,  in  which  I  see  an  unchange- 
able token  of  your  distinguished  favour  to  me,  and  which 
has  greatly  pleased  me,  especially  because  you  have  deigned 
to  express  your  assurance  that  I  would  never  abandon  the 
sciences.  I  do  not  at  all  wonder  at  the  judgment  of  the 
others,  for  they  really  have  had  the  example  in  certain 
people  who,  ha\'ing  barely  opened  for  themselves  the  road  to 
fortune,  have  at  once  set  out  on  other  paths  and  have  sought 
out  other  means  for  their  farther  advancement  than  the 
sciences,  which  they  have  entirely  abandoned ;  their  patrons 
ask  little  or  nothing  of  them,  and  are  satisfied  with  their 
mere  names,  not  like  your  Excellency  who  ask  for  ray  works 
in  order  to  judge  me.  In  these  above-mentioned  men,  who 
in  their  fortune  have  abandoned  science,  all  can  easily  per- 
ceive that  all  they  know  is  what  they  have  acquired  in  their 
infancy  under  the  rod,  and  that  they  have  added  no  new 
knowledge  since  they  have  had  control  of  themselves.  But 
it  has  been  quite  different  with  me  (permit  me,  dear  sir,  to 
proclaim  the  truth  not  for  the  sake  of  vainglory,  but  in  order 
to  justify  myself):  my  father  was  a  good-hearted  man,  but 
he  was  brought  up  in  extreme  ignorance;  my  step-mother 
was  an  evil  and  envious  woman,  and  she  tried  with  all  her 
might  and  main  to  rouse  my  father's  anger  by  representing 
to  him  that  I  eternally  wasted  my  time  with  books;  so  I 
was  frequently  compelled  to  read  and  study  anything  that 
fell  into  my  hands,  in  lonely  and  deserted  places,  and  to 
suffer  cold  and  hunger,  until  I  went  to  the  School  of  the 
Redeemer. 

Now  that  I  have,  through  your  fatherly  intercession,  a 
complete  suflficiency  from  her  august  Imperial  Highness, 
and  your  approbation  of  my  labours,  and  that  of  other  ex- 
perts and  lovers  of  the  sciences,  and  almost  their  universal 
delight  in  them,  and  finally  no  longer  a  childish  reasoning 
of  an  imperfect  age, — how  could  I  in  my  manhood  disgrace 
my  early  life  ?     But  I  shall  stop  troubling  your  patience  with 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomonosov        245 

these  considerations,  knowing  your  just  opinion  of  me.  So 
I  shall  report  to  your  Excellency  that  which  your  praise- 
worthy zeal  wishes  to  know  of  the  sciences. 

First,  as  to  electricity :  There  have  lately  been  made  here 
two  important  experiments,  one  by  Mr.  Richmann  by  means 
of  the  apparatus,  the  other  by  me  in  the  clouds.  By  the 
first  it  was  proved  that  Musschenbroek's  experiment  with  a 
strong  discharge  can  be  transferred  from  place  to  place, 
separating  it  from  the  apparatus  for  a  considerable  distance, 
even  as  much  as  half  a  mile.  The  second  experiment  was 
made  on  my  lightning  apparatus,  when,  without  any  percept- 
ible thunder  or  lightning,  on  the  25th  of  April,  the  thread 
was  repelled  from  the  iron  rod  and  followed  my  hand ;  and 
on  the  28th  of  the  same  month,  during  the  passage  of  a  rain- 
cloud  without  any  perceptible  thunder  or  lightning,  there 
were  loud  discharges  from  the  lightning  apparatus,  with 
bright  sparks  and  a  crackling  that  could  be  heard  from  a 
great  distance.  This  has  never  been  noticed  before,  and  it 
agrees  completely  with  my  former  theory  of  heat  and  my 
present  one  of  the  electric  power,  and  this  will  serve  me  well 
at  the  next  public  lecture.  This  lecture  I  shall  deliver  in 
conjunction  with  Professor  Richmann:  he  will  present  his 
experiments,  and  I  shall  illustrate  the  theory  and  usefulness 
arising  from  them;  I  am  now  preparing  for  this  lecture. 

As  to  the  second  part  of  the  text-book  on  eloquence,  it  is 
well  on  its  way,  and  I  hope  to  have  it  printed  by  the  end  of 
October.  I  shall  use  all  my  endeavour  to  have  it  out  soon; 
I  do  not  send  your  Excellency  any  manuscript  of  it,  as  you 
have  asked  for  printed  sheets.  As  I  have  promised,  I  am 
also  using  all  my  endeavour  in  regard  to  the  first  volume  of 
the  Russian  History,  so  as  to  have  it  ready  in  manuscript 
by  the  new  year.  From  him  who  delivers  lectures  in  his 
subject,  who  makes  new  experiments,  delivers  public  lectures 
and  dissertations,  and  besides  composes  all  kinds  of  verses 
and  projects  for  solemn  expressions  of  joy;  who  writes  out 
the  rules  of  eloquence  for  his  native  language  and  a  history 
of  his  country,  which,  at  that,  he  has  to  furnish  for  a  certain 
date, — I  cannot  demand  anything  more,  and  I  am  ready  to 


246  The  Eighteenth  Century 

be  patient  with  him,  provided  something  sensible  will  result 
in  the  end. 

Having  again  and  again  convinced  myself  that  your  Ex- 
cellency likes  to  converse  about  science,  I  eagerly  await  a 
pleasant  meeting  with  you,  in  order  to  satisfy  you  with  my 
latest  endeavours,  for  it  is  not  possible  to  communicate  them 
all  to  you  at  a  distance.  I  cannot  see  when  I  shall  be  able 
to  arrange,  as  I  had  promised,  the  optical  apparatus  in  your 
Excellency's  house,  for  there  are  no  floors,  nor  ceilings,  nor 
staircases  in  it  yet,  and  I  lately  walked  around  in  it  with  no 
small  degree  of  danger  to  myself.  The  electric  balls  I  shall 
send  you,  as  you  wish,  without  delay,  as  soon  as  possible. 
I  must  inform  your  Excellency  that  there  is  here  a  great 
scarcity  in  mechanics,  so  that  I  have  not  been  able  to  get 
anywhere,  not  even  at  your  estate,  a  joiner  for  any  money, 
to  build  me  an  electric  apparatus,  so  that  up  to  the  present 
I  have  been  making  use,  instead  of  a  terrestrial  machine,  of 
the  clouds,  to  which  I  have  had  a  pole  erected  from  the  roof. 
Whatever  instruments  your  Excellency  may  need,  I  beg  you 
to  permit  me  to  report  in  the  oflfice  of  the  Academj'  in  your 
name  that  the  orders  for  them  should  be  given  to  the 
mechanics,  or  else  the  business  will  be  endlessly  prolonged. 
In  fine,  I  remain,  with  the  expression  of  deep  respect,  your 
most  humble  and  faithful  servant,  Mikhaylo  L,omon6sov. 
St.  Petersburg,  May  31,  1753. 

ODE  IN  HONOUR  OF  THE  EMPRESS  ANNA,  ON 
THE  OCCASION  OF  THE  CAPTURE  OF  KHO- 
TIN  FROM  THE  TURKS,  BY  THE  RUSSIAN 
ARMIES,    IN    1739 

A  sudden  ecstasy  has  seized  my  soul ;  it  transports  me  to 
the  summit  of  a  lofty  mountain,  where  the  wind  has  ceased 
to  howl,  and  all  is  hushed  in  the  deep  valleys  below.  Silent 
are  the  listening  streams,  to  which  it  is  natural  to  murmur, 
or  with  loud  rush  to  roll  down  the  mountains;  crowns  of 
laurel  are  weaving;  thither  rumour  is  seen  to  hasten;  afar 
off  the  blue  smoke  rises  in  the  fields. 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomon6sov       247 

Is  not  Pindus  beneath  my  feet  ?  I  hear  the  sweet  music 
of  the  pure  sisters.  Parnassian  fire  burns  within  me.  I 
hasten  to  the  sacred  band.  They  offer  me  to  taste  of  the 
healing  stream.  "  Drink,  and  forget  thy  troubles;  bathe 
thine  eyes  in  Castilian  dew;  stretch  them  forth  over  the 
deserts  and  hills,  and  fix  them  on  the  spot  where  the  bright 
light  of  day  is  seen  rising  out  of  the  dark  shadows  of 
night." 

As  a  ship,  amidst  the  angry  waves  which  seek  to  over- 
whelm her,  sails  on  triumphantly,  and  appears  to  threaten 
should  they  dare  to  impede  her  course;  grey  froth  foams 
around  her,  her  track  is  imprinted  in  the  deep ;  thus  crowds 
of  Tartars  rush  towards  and  surround  the  Russian  forces, 
but  in  vain;  powerless  and  breathless  they  fall. 

The  love  of  their  country  nerves  the  souls  and  arms  of 
Russia's  sons;  eager  are  all  to  shed  their  blood;  the  raging 
tumult  but  inspires  them  with  fresh  courage;  as  the  lion, 
by  the  fearful  glare  of  his  eyes,  drives  before  him  whole 
herds  of  wolves,  their  sharp  teeth  vainly  showing;  the 
woods  and  shores  tremble  at  his  roar;  with  his  tail  he  lashes 
the  sand  and  dust;  with  his  strength  he  beats  down  every 
opposing  force. 

Hear  I  not  the  deafening  din  of  Etna's  forges?  Roars 
not  the  brass  within,  bubbling  with  boiling  sulphur  ?  Is  not 
Hell  striving  to  burst  its  chains,  and  ope  its  jaws?  The 
posterity  of  the  rejected  deity  have  filled  the  mountain  track 
with  fire,  and  hurl  down  flame  and  liquid  metal;  but  neither 
foe  nor  nature  can  withstand  the  burning  ardour  of  our 
people. 

Send  away  thy  hordes,  Stamboul,  beyond  these  mount- 
ains, where  the  fiery  elements  vomit  forth  smoke,  ashes, 
flame  and  death;  beyond  the  Tigris,  whose  strong  waves 
drag  after  them  the  huge  stones  from  the  shores,  but  the 
world  holds  no  impediment  to  arrest  the  eagle  in  his  flight. 
To  him  the  waters,  the  woods,  the  mountains,  the  preci- 
pices and  the  silent  deserts  are  but  as  level  paths;  wherever 
the  wind  can  blow,  thither  he  can  wing  his  way. 

Let  the  earth  be  all  motion  like  the  sea;  let  myriads 


248  The  Eighteenth  Century 

oppose;  let  thickest  smoke  darken  the  universe;  let  the  Mol- 
davian mountains  swim  in  blood;  such  cannot  harm  you,  O 
Russians!  whose  safety  Fate  itself  has  decreed  for  the  sake 
of  the  blessed  Anna.  Already  in  her  course  your  zeal  has 
led  you  in  triumph  against  the  Tartars,  and  wide  is  the 
prospect  before  you. 

The  parting  ray  of  daylight  falls  gently  into  the  waters, 
and  leaves  the  fight  to  the  night  fires;  Murza  has  fallen  on 
his  long  shadow;  in  him  the  light  and  soul  of  the  infidels 
pass  from  them.  A  wolf  issues  from  the  thick  forest  and 
rushes  on  the  pale  carcass,  even  in  the  Turkish  camp.  A 
dying  Tartar,  raising  his  eyes  towards  the  evening  star  for 
the  last  time,  ' '  Hide, ' '  he  feebly  cries,  ' '  thy  purple  light, 
and  with  it  the  shame  of  Mahomet;  descend  quickly  with 
the  sun  into  the  sea. ' ' 

Why  is  my  soul  thus  oppressed  with  terror  ?  My  veins 
grow  stiff,  my  heart  aches.  Strange  tones  meet  mine  ear;  a 
howling  noise  seems  passing  through  the  desert,  the  woods 
and  the  air.  The  wild  beast  has  taken  refuge  in  its  cavern ; 
the  gates  of  heaven  are  opened;  a  cloud  has  spread  itself 
over  the  army ;  suddenly  a  countenance  of  fire  shines  forth : 
a  hero  appears  chasing  his  enemies  before  him,  his  sword  all 
red  with  blood. 

Is  it  not  he  who,  near  the  rapid  waters  of  the  Don,  de- 
stroyed the  walls  raised  to  check  the  Russians'  progress? 
And  the  Persians  in  their  arid  deserts,  was  it  not  by  his 
arms  they  fell  ?  Thus  looked  he  on  his  foes  when  he  ap- 
proached the  Gothic  shores;  thus  lifted  he  his  powerful  arm; 
thus  swiftly  his  proud  horse  galloped  over  those  fields  where 
we  see  the  morning  star  arise. 

I/Oud  thunder  rattles  around  him;  the  plains  and  the 
forests  tremble  at  the  approach  of  Peter,  who  by  his  side  so 
sternly  looks  towards  the  south,  girt  round  with  dreadful 
thunder!  Is  it  not  the  conqueror  of  Kazdn?  It  is  he,  ye 
Caspian  waters,  who  humbled  the  proud  Selim,  and  strewed 
the  desert  with  the  dead  bodies  of  his  enemies. 

Thus  the  heroes  addressed  each  other:  "  Not  in  vain  we 
toiled;  not  fruitless  our  united  efforts,  that  the  whole  world 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomon6sov       249 

should  stand  in  awe  of  Russia.  By  the  aid  of  our  arms,  our 
boundaries  have  been  widened  on  the  north,  on  the  west, 
and  on  the  east.  Anna  now  triumphs  in  the  south ;  she  has 
crowned  her  troops  with  victory."  The  cloud  has  passed, 
and  the  heroes  within  it:  the  eye  no  longer  sees,  the  ear  no 
longer  hears  them. 

The  blood  of  the  Tartar  has  purpled  the  river;  he  dares 
not  again  venture  to  the  fight;  he  seeks  refuge  in  the  desert; 
and,  forgetful  alike  of  the  sword,  the  camp,  his  own  shame, 
he  pictures  to  himself  his  friends  weltering  in  their  blood; 
the  waving  of  the  light  leaf  startles  him  like  whizzing  balls 
as  they  fly  through  the  air. 

The  shouts  of  the  victors  echo  through  the  woods  and  val- 
leys; but  the  wretch  who  abandons  the  fight  dreads  his 
own  shadow.  The  moon,  a  witness  to  her  children's  flight, 
shares  in  their  shame,  and,  deeply  reddening,  hides  her  face 
in  darkness.  Fame  flies  through  the  gloom  of  the  night; 
her  trumpet  proclaims  to  the  universe  the  terrible  might  of 
Russia. 

The  Danube  rushes  into  the  sea,  and,  roaring  in  echo  to 
the  acclamations  of  the  conquerors,  dashes  its  furious  waves 
against  the  Turk,  who  seeks  to  hide  his  shame  behind  its 
waters.  To  and  fro  he  runs  like  a  wild  beast  wounded,  and, 
despairing,  he  thinks  that  for  the  last  time  he  moves  his 
steps;  the  earth  disdains  to  support  the  wretch  who  could 
not  guard  her;  darkness  and  fear  confuse  his  path. 

Where  is  now  the  boasting  Stamboul  ? — thy  courage,  thy 
obstinacy  in  the  fight,  thy  malice  against  the  nations  of  the 
North,  thy  contempt  of  our  strength?  No  sooner  hadst 
thou  commanded  thy  hordes  to  advance  than  thou  thought- 
est  to  conquer;  cruelly  th}'^  janissary  vented  his  rage;  like  a 
tiger  he  rushed  upon  the  Muscovite  troop.  Soon  the  boaster 
fell;  he  weltered  in  his  own  blood. 

Water  with  your  tears,  children  of  Hagar,  the  foot  which 
has  trampled  you  down !  Kiss  ye  that  hand  whose  bloody 
sword  brought  fear  before  your  eyes.  Anna's  stern  glance 
is  quick  to  grant  relief  to  those  who  seek  it;  it  shines  forth, 
for  the  storm  has  passed  away.     She  sees  you  prostrate 


250  The  Eighteenth  Century 

before  her;  fervent  in  affection  towards  her  own  subjects,  to 
her  enemies  she  proffers  punishment  or  pardon. 

Already  has  the  golden  finger  of  the  morning  star  with- 
drawn the  starry  curtain  of  night;  a  horse  fleet  as  the  wind, 
his  rider  Phcebus  in  the  full  blaze  of  his  glory,  issues  from 
the  east,  his  nostrils  breathing  sparks  of  radiant  light. 
Phcebus  shakes  his  fiery  head,  dwells  in  wonder  on  the 
glorious  work  and  exclaims:  "  Few  such  victories  have  I 
witnessed,  long  as  I  have  continued  to  g^ve  light  to  the 
world,  long  as  the  circle  of  ages  has  revolved." 

Like  as  the  serpent  rolls  itself  up,  hissing  and  hiding  its 
sting  under  a  rock,  when  the  eagle,  soaring  into  those  re- 
gions where  the  winds  blow  not,  above  lightnings,  snow  and 
tempests,  looks  down  upon  the  beasts,  the  fishes  and  the 
reptiles  beneath  him,  thus  Khotin  trembles  before  the  eagle 
of  Russia;  thus  its  inhabitants  crouch  within  its  walls. 

What  led  your  Tartar  race,  Kalchdk,'  to  bend  so  promptly 
beneath  the  Russian  power?  to  deliver  up  the  keys  of 
j-^our  town  in  token  of  submission,  evading  thus  disgrace 
more  deep?  The  clemency  of  Anna,  of  her  who  is  ever 
ready  to  raise  the  suppliant.  Where  flows  the  Vistula,  and 
where  the  glorious  Rhine,  even  there  her  olive-trees  have 
flourished ;  there  have  the  proud  hearts  of  her  defeated  foes 
yielded  up  their  lives. 

Joyful  are  the  lands  which  have  thrown  off  the  cruel  yoke; 
the  burden  the  Turks  had  laid  on  them  is  thrown  back  upon 
themselves!  The  barbarian  hands  which  held  them  in  re- 
straint now  wear  their  chains  in  captivity;  and  the  feet  are 
shackled  which  trampled  down  the  field  of  the  stranger,  and 
drove  away  his  flocks. 

Not  thus  alone  must  thou  be  humbled ;  not  all  thy  punish- 
ment this,  O  Turkey!  A  far  greater  hast  thou  merited,  for 
thou  didst  refuse  to  let  us  live  in  peace.  Still  does  the  rage 
of  your  haughty  souls  forbid  you  to  bend  before  Anna  ? 
Where  would  ye  hide  yourselves  from  her?  Damascus, 
Cairo,  Aleppo,  shall  flame!  Crete  shall  be  surrounded 
with  her  fleets;  Euphrates  shall  be  dyed  with  your  blood. 
'  Kalchdk-pasha  was  the  commander  of  Khotin. 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomon6sov       251 

A  sudden  and  universal  change !  A  dazzling  vision  passes 
before  my  eyes,  and  with  heaven's  purest  beams  outshines 
the  brightness  of  the  day !  The  voices  of  heroes  strike  upon 
my  ear.  Anna's  joyous  band,  in  glory  clad,  bear  up  eternity 
beyond  the  starry  orbs,  and  Truth  with  her  golden  pen  traces 
her  glorious  deeds  in  that  book  which  is  not  reached  by  cor- 
ruption. 

Russia  thrives  like  a  young  lily  under  Anna's  care;  within 
China's  distant  walls  she  is  honoured,  and  every  corner  of 
the  earth  is  filled  with  her  subjects'  glory.  Happy  art  thou, 
O  my  country,  under  the  rule  of  thy  Empress!  Bright  the 
laurels  thou  hast  gained  by  this  triumph.  Fear  not  the  ills 
of  war;  they  fly  from  the  land  where  Anna  is  glorified  by 
her  people.  Malicious  envy  may  pour  forth  her  poison,  she 
may  gnaw  her  tongue  in  rage.     Our  joy  heeds  it  not. 

The  robbers  who,  from  beyond  the  Dniester,  came  to 
plunder  the  fields  of  the  Cossacks,  are  driven  back,  scattered 
like  dust;  no  longer  dare  they  venture  on  that  soil  where 
the  fruits  of  the  earth  and  the  blessings  of  peace  together 
flourish.  In  safety  the  merchant  pursues  his  traffic,  and  the 
mariner  sees  a  boundary  to  the  waves;  no  obstacles  impede 
his  course.  The  old  and  the  young  are  happy;  he  who 
wished  for  the  hour  of  death  now  prays  for  lengthened  life; 
his  heart  is  gladdened  by  his  country's  triumphs. 

The  shepherd  drives  his  flocks  into  the  meadow,  and  enters 
the  forest  without  fear;  there,  with  his  friend  who  tends  his 
sheep,  he  sings  the  song  of  joy,  his  theme  the  bravery  of  the 
soldier;  he  blesses  the  passing  moments  of  his  life,  and  im- 
plores endless  peace  on  the  spot  where  he  sleeps  in  quiet. 
Thus,  in  the  simple  sincerity  of  his  heart,  he  glorifies  her 
who  shields  him  from  his  enemies. 

O  thou  great  Empress !  The  love  of  Russia,  the  dread  of 
thy  foes,  the  heroine  of  the  northern  world,  the  hope,  the 
joy,  the  goddess  of  the  shores  of  seven  wide  seas,  thou  shinest 
in  the  cloudless  lights  of  goodness  and  beneficence.  Forgive 
thy  slave  that  he  has  chosen  thy  glory  for  his  lay,  and  that 
his  rugged  verse,  in  token  of  submission  to  thy  rule,  has 
thus  dared  to  attempt  to  magnify  thy  power. — Given  in  F. 


252  The  Eighteenth  Century 

R.  Grahame's  The  Progress  of  Science,  Art  and  Literature 
in  Russia. 

MORNING   MEDITATIONS 

O'er  the  wide  earth  yon  torch  of  heavenly  light 

Its  splendour  spreads  and  God's  proud  works  unveils; 

My  soul,  enraptured  at  the  marvellous  sight, 

Unwonted  peace,  and  joy,  and  wonder  feels, 

And  with  uplifted  thoughts  of  ecstasy 

Exclaims,  "  How  great  must  their  Creator  be!  " 

Or,  if  a  mortal's  power  could  stretch  so  high — 
If  mortal  sight  could  reach  that  glorious  sun, 
And  look  undazzled  at  its  majesty, 
'T  would  seem  a  fiery  ocean  burning  on 
From  time's  first  birth,  whose  ever-flaming  ray 
Could  ne'er  extinguished  be  by  time's  decay. 

There  waves  of  fire  'gainst  waves  of  fire  are  dashing, 
And  know  no  bounds ;  there  hurricanes  of  flame. 
As  if  in  everlasting  combat  flashing, 
Roar  with  a  fury  which  no  time  can  tame: 
There  molten  mountains  boil  like  ocean-waves. 
And  rain  in  burning  streams  the  welkin  laves. 

But  in  Thy  presence  all  is  but  a  spark, 
A  little  spark :  that  wondrous  orb  was  lighted 
By  Thy  own  hand,  the  dreary  and  the  dark 
Pathway  of  man  to  cheer — of  man  benighted ; 
To  guide  the  march  of  seasons  in  their  way. 
And  place  us  in  a  paradise  of  day. 

Dull  Night  her  sceptre  sways  o'er  plains  and  hills, 

O'er  the  dark  forest  and  the  foaming  sea; 

Thy  wondrous  energy  all  nature  fills. 

And  leads  our  thoughts,  and  leads  our  hopes  to  Thee. 

"  How  great  is  God!  "  a  million  tongues  repeat, 

And  million  tongues  re-echo,  "  God,  how  great!  " 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Lomo.n6sov        253 

But  now  again  the  day  star  bursts  the  gloom, 
Scattering  its  sunshine  o'er  the  opening  sky; 
Thy  eye,  that  pierces  even  through  the  tomb. 
Has  chased  the  clouds,  has  bid  the  vapours  fly; 
And  smiles  of  light,  descending  from  above. 
Bathe  all  the  universe  with  joy  and  love. 
-From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the  Russian  Poets. 

EVENING   MEDITATIONS 

ON  SEEING  THE  AURORA  BOREA^IS 

The  day  retires,  the  mists  of  night  are  spread 

Slowly  o'er  nature,  darkening  as  they  rise; 

The  gloomy  clouds  are  gathering  round  our  heads, 

And  twilight's  latest  glimmering  gently  dies:' 

The  stars  awake  in  heaven's  abyss  of  blue; 

Say,  who  can  count  them  ? — Who  can  sound  it  ? — Who  ? 

Even  as  a  sand  in  the  majestic  sea, 

A  diamond-atom  on  a  hill  of  snow, 

A  spark  amidst  a  Hecla's  majesty, 

An  unseen  mote  where  maddened  whirlwinds  blow. 

And  I  midst  scenes  like  these — the  mighty  thought 

O'erwhelms  me — I  am  nought,  or  less  than  nought. 

And  science  tells  me  that  each  twinkling  star 

That  smiles  above  us  is  a  peopled  sphere, 

Or  central  sun,  diffusing  light  afar; 

A  link  of  nature's  chain: — and  there,  even  there. 

The  Godhead  shines  displayed — in  love  and  light, 

Creating  wisdom — all-directing  might. 

Where  are  thy  secret  laws,  O  Nature,  where  ? 

In  wintry  realms  thy  dazzling  torches  blaze. 

And  from  thy  icebergs  streams  of  glory  there 

Are  poured,  while  other  suns  their  splendent  race 

In  glory  run :  from  frozen  seas  what  ray 

Of  brightness  ? — From  yon  realms  of  night  what  day  ? 


254  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Philosopher,  whose  penetrating  eye 

Reads  nature's  deepest  secrets,  open  now 

This  all-inexplicable  mystery : 

Why  do  earth's  darkest,  coldest  regions  glow 

With  lights  like  these  ? — Oh,  tell  us,  knowing  one, 

For  thou  dost  count  the  stars,  and  weigh  the  sun ! 

Whence  are  these  varied  lamps  all  lighted  round  ? — 
Whence  all  the  horizon's  glowing  fire  ? — The  heaven 
Is  splendent  as  with  lightning — but  no  sound 
Of  thunder — all  as  calm  as  gentlest  even  ; 
And  winter's  midnight  is  as  bright,  as  gay, 
As  the  fair  noontide  of  a  summer's  day. 

What  stores  of  fire  are  these,  what  magazine. 
Whence  God  from  grossest  darkness  light  supplies  ? 
What  wondrous  fabric  which  the  mountains  screen, 
Whose  bursting  flames  above  those  mountains  rise; 
Where  rattling  winds  disturb  the  mighty  ocean, 
And  the  proud  waves  roll  with  eternal  motion  ? 

Vain  is  the  inquiry — all  is  darkness,  doubt: 

This  earth  is  one  vast  mystery  to  man. 

First  find  the  secrets  of  this  planet  out, 

Then  other  planets,  other  systems  scan ! 

Nature  is  veiled  from  thee,  presuming  clod! 

And  what  canst  thou  conceive  of  Nature's  God  ? 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the  Russian  Poets. 

Alexander  Petrdvich  Sumar6kov.    (1718-1777.) 

Sumar6kov  is  the  first  litterateur  of  Russia,  that  is,  the  first  man  to 
regard  literature  as  a  profession,  independently  of  an  official  position. 
After  graduating  from  the  military  school,  in  1740,  he  served  for  a 
while  under  some  military  commanders,  but  devoted  all  his  leisure 
time  to  writing  poetry  according  to  the  rules  laid  down  by  Tredyak6v- 
ski.  There  was  no  species  of  poetical  literature  in  which  he  did  not 
try  himself  and  did  not  produce  prolifically.  He  has  left  odes, 
eulogies,  fables,  satires  and  dramas.  In  many  of  these  he  broke 
virgin  soil  in  Russia,  and  in  his  unexampled  conceit  he  was  not  slow 
to  proclaim  his  highest  deserts :  "  What  Athens  has  seen  and  Paris 


Alexander  Petr6vich  Sumar6kov      255 

now  sees,  after  a  long  period  of  transition,  that  you,  O  Russia,  have 
perceived  at  once  by  my  efforts."  In  spite  of  bis  mediocrity  and  ac- 
quaintance with  only  the  pseudo-classic  French  style  (for  he  disdained 
all  serious  study  of  antiquity),  Sumar6kov  was  highly  valued  in  his 
day,  and  his  example  has  done  much  to  advance  Russian  literature. 
In  1756  the  Russian  Theatre  was  created  by  a  decree  of  the  Senate, 
and  Sumar6kov  was  chosen  as  its  first  director.  To  fill  his  repertoire, 
he  was  compelled  to  write  plays  himself,  and  he  produced  them  with 
astounding  facility.  His  best  drama  is  probably  The  False  Deme- 
trius, though  there  is  little  historical  truth  in  it.  In  1761  he  issued  the 
first  independent  journal,  The  Industrious  Bee,  which,  however,  was 
filled  mainly  with  his  own  writings.  Sumardkov's  influence  on  Rus- 
sian letters  lasted  up  to  the  time  of  Pushkin,  though  Karamzin  was 
the  first  to  doubt  his  greatness. 

Sumar6kov's  The  False  Demetrius  has  been  translated  into  Eng- 
lish :  Demetrius  the  Impostor ;  a  tragedy  [in  five  acts  and  in  prose], 
translated  from  the  Russian,  I/jndon,  1806. 

Act  II.,  Scene  7,  is  also  given  in  C.  E.  Turner's  Studies  in  Russian 
Literature,  and,  the  same,  in  Eraser's  Magazine,  1877. 

THE  FAI.se  DEMETRIUS 

ACT  II.,  SCKNB  I.      GEORGE  AND  XENIA 

Xenia.  Blessed  in  the  world  is  that  purple-bearing  man 
who  does  not  suppress  the  freedom  of  our  souls,  who  elevates 
himself  for  society's  good,  and  with  leniency  adorns  his  royal 
dignity,  who  gives  his  subjects  auspicious  days,  and  whom 
evildoers  alone  have  cause  to  fear. 

George.  O  thou  sad  Kremlin !  Thou  art  this  day  a  witness 
how  that  virtue  was  cast  down  from  the  throne.  Languish- 
ing Moscow  trembles  in  despair;  happiness  flees  its  walls  in 
sorrow;  the  bright  days  seem  darker  than  dense  night;  the 
fair  groves  about  Moscow  are  clad  in  sombreness.  When 
the  solemn  bell  rings  in  the  city,  it  seems  to  us  that  it  repeats 
the  city's  general  groan  and  that  it  proclaims  our  Church's 
fall  through  the  machinations  of  the  pope,  O  I,ord,  remove 
that  terror  from  the  Russians!  Already  the  report  flies 
through  the  square  that  Clement  has  promised  reward  in 
heaven  to  the  rebels,  the  foes  of  our  country's  city,  and  that 
he  in  advance  forgives  them  all  their  sins.  Moscow  will 
suffer  as  suffers  the  New  World !    There  the  papists  have 


256  The  Eighteenth  Century 

stained  with  blood  the  earth,  have  slaughtered  its  inhabit- 
ants, have  plundered  the  surviving,  have  burnt  the  innocent 
in  their  own  land,  holding  the  cross  in  one  hand,  in  the  other 
— the  bloody  sword.  What  has  happened  to  them  in  their 
dire  fate  will  now,  O  Russia,  be  done  to  you! 

Xenia.  All  powers  of  evil, — Demetrius,  Clement,  Hell, — 
will  not  efface  you  from  ray  heart!  O  Heaven,  remove  the 
fury  of  the  papal  power,  and  with  it  Xenia's  unbearable 
distress,  that  Russia  might  raise  its  head,  and  I  might  be 
my  sweetheart's  wife!  Grant  us  to  see  the  monarch  on  the 
throne,  subject  to  truth,  not  arbitrary  will !  All  truth  has 
withered;  the  tyrant's  law  is  only  what  he  wants;  but  on  the 
happiness  of  their  subjects  are  based  the  laws  of  righteous 
kings,  for  their  immortal  glory.  God's  vicar  is  to  be  the 
Tsar.  Strike  me,  destroy  me,  merciless  Tsar !  Megaera  has 
swept  you  from  Tartarus,  the  Caucasus  has  borne  you,  Hyr- 
cania  has  nurtured  you.  The  heretic,  with  his  crowd  of 
slaves,  will,  cursing,  oust  the  bodies  of  saintly  men  from  their 
graves.  Their  names  will  in  Russia  for  ever  perish,  and  the 
houses  of  God  will  in  Moscow  be  deserted.  Nation,  tear  the 
crown  from  the  creator  of  dire  torments;  hasten,  wrest 
the  sceptre  from  the  barbarian's  hands! 

SCENE  7 

Demetrius  {alone).  My  crown  lies  not  firmly  upon  my  head, 
and  the  end  of  my  greatness  is  at  hand.  Each  moment  I 
expect  a  sudden  change.  O  Kremlin's  walls  that  frighten 
me!  Meseems  each  hour  you  announce  to  me:  "Villain, 
you  are  a  foe,  a  foe  to  us  and  the  whole  land !  "  The  citizens 
proclaim :  '  *  You  have  ruined  us !  "  And  the  temples  weep : 
"  We  are  stained  with  blood!  "  The  fair  places  about  Mos- 
cow are  deserted,  and  Hell  from  its  abyss  has  oped  its  jaws 
at  me;  I  see  the  sombre  steps  that  lead  to  the  infernal  re- 
gions, and  the  tormented  shades  of  Tartarus:  I  am  already 
in  Gehenna,  and  burn  in  the  flame;  I  cast  my  glance  to 
heaven,  and  see  the  celestial  regions:  there  are  good  kings 
in  all  the  beauty  of  their  natures,  and  angels  besprinkle  them 
with  dew  of  paradise;  but  what  hope  have  I  to-day  in  my 


Alexander  Petr6vich  Sumar6kov      257 

despair?  I  shall  be  tormented  in  eternity  even  as  I  sujffer 
now.  I  am  not  a  crowned  potentate  in  a  magnificent  city, 
but  an  evil  malefactor,  in  hell  tormented.  I  perish,  drag- 
ging a  multitude  of  the  people  to  destruction.  Flee,  tyrant, 
flee !  From  whom  ? — From  myself,  for  I  see  no  one  else  be- 
fore me.  Run !  But  whither  ?  Your  hell  is  ever  with  you ! 
The  assassin  is  here,  run!  But  I  am  that  assassin!  I 
tremble  before  myself,  and  before  my  shade.  I  shall  avenge 
myself!  On  whom  ?  Myself,  Do  I  hate  myself  ?  I  love 
myself!  For  what?  I  see  it  not.  All  cry  against  me: 
rapine,  unfair  justice,  all  terrible  things, — they  cry  together 
against  me.  I  live  to  the  misfortune,  shall  die  to  the  fortune 
of  my  nearest.  The  fate  of  men,  the  lowliest,  I  envy:  even 
the  mendicant  is  sometimes  happy  in  his  poverty.  But  I 
rule  here, — and  am  always  tormented.  Endure  and  perish, 
having  ascended  the  throne  by  deceit !  Drive,  and  be  driven ! 
I^ive  and  die  a  tyrant ! 

INSTRUCTION  TO  A  SON 

Perceiving  his  tearful  end  near  at  hand,  a  father  thus  in- 
structed his  beloved,  only  begotten  son: 

"  My  son,  beloved  son!  I  am  old  to-day;  my  mind  grows 
dull,  my  fervour  is  all  gone;  I  am  preparing  to  go  before  the 
Judge,  and  shall  soon  pass  to  eternity,  the  immeasurable 
abode  of  mortals.  So  I  wish  to  tell  you  how  you  may  live, 
and  to  show  you  the  road  to  happiness.  You  will  travel 
over  a  slippery  path :  though  all  in  the  world  is  vanity,  yet 
why  should  one  disdain  happiness  in  life  ?  Our  whole  mind 
ought  to  be  bent  upon  obtaining  it,  and  our  endeavour  should 
be  to  get  all  we  need. 

"  Give  up  that  chimera  which  men  call  honour;  of  what 
good  is  it  when  you  have  nothing  to  eat  ?  It  is  impossible 
to  get  along  in  commerce  without  cheating,  and  in  poverty 
without  dishonesty  and  theft.  By  hook  and  by  crook  I  have 
scraped  together  a  fortune  for  you;  now,  if  you  should 
squander  it  all,  I  shall  have  sold  my  soul  in  vain.  When- 
ever I  think  of  that,  my  rest  is  gone. 


2$S  The  Eighteenth  Century 

"  Increase  j'our  income,  keep  indolence  from  your  heart, 
and  keep  your  money  against  an  evil  day.  Steal,  if  you  can 
steal,  but  do  it  secretly, — by  all  means  increase  your  income 
every  year !  The  eye  is  not  satisfied  with  mere  looking  on. 
If  you  can  cheat,  cheat  artfully,  for  'tis  a  shame  to  be 
caught  in  the  act,  and  it  often  leads  to  the  gallows.  Make 
no  acquaintances  for  the  mere  sake  of  knowing  them,  but 
put  your  spoon  there  where  the  jam  is  thickest !  Revere  the 
rich,  to  get  your  tribute  from  them.  Never  tire  praising 
them  with  condescension  ;  but  if  they  be  distinguished 
people,  subdue  them  by  creeping ! 

"  Be  humble  with  all  men,  and  simulate!  If  a  mighty 
person  chides  anyone,  together  with  the  mighty  chide  him ! 
Praise  those  whom  the  powerful  praise,  and  belittle  those 
they  belittle!  Keep  your  eyes  wide  open  and  watch  whom 
great  boydrs  are  angry  with. 

"  If  you  walk  upon  the  straight  road,  you  will  find  no 
fortune.  Swim  there  where  favourable  winds  carry  you! 
Against  men  whom  the  people  honour  speak  not  a  word; 
and  let  your  soul  be  ever  ready  to  thank  them,  though  you 
receive  nothing  from  them!  Endeavour  to  speak  like 
them.  Whatever  the  puissant  man  says  are  sacred  words; 
never  contradict  him,  for  you  are  a  small  man !  If  he  say 
red  of  that  which  is  black,  say  too:  '  'T  is  rather  red! '  Be- 
fore low-born  men  rave  like  a  devil ;  for  if  you  do  not,  they 
will  forget  who  you  are,  and  will  not  respect  you:  the  com- 
mon people  honour  those  who  are  haughty.  But  before  the 
high-born  leap  like  a  frog,  and  remember  that  a  farthing  is 
as  nothing  in  comparison  with  a  rouble.  Big  souls  have 
they,  but  we,  my  beloved  son,  have  only  little  souls!  Be 
profuse  in  thanks,  if  you  expect  some  favour  from  your 
benefactor;  spare  your  thanks  where  you  have  nothing  to 
gain,  for  your  grateful  spirit  will  be  lost. 

"  Do  yourself  no  injury,  and  remain  honest  to  yourself, 
loving  yourself  most  sincerely!  Do  no  injury  to  yourself, 
but  for  others  have  only  appearances,  and  remember  how 
little  wisdom  there  is  in  the  world,  and  how  many  fools. 
Satisfy  them  with  empty  words:  honour  yourself  with  your 


Alexander  Petr6vich  Sumar6kov      259 

heart,  but  others  with  your  lips,  for  you  will  have  to  pay  no 
toll  for  fondling  them.  I^et  others  think  that  you  place 
yourself  much  lower  than  them,  and  that  you  have  little  re- 
gard for  yourself;  but  do  not  forget  that  your  shirt  is  nearer 
to  your  body  than  your  caftan ! 

"  I  will  allow  you  to  play  cards,  provided  you  know  how 
to  handle  them.  A  game  without  cunning  has  no  inter- 
est, and  playing  you  must  not  sacrifice  yourself  to  others. 
Whatever  game  you  play,  my  son,  remember  not  to  be 
always  honest! — Have  contempt  for  peasants,  seeing  them 
below  your  feet,  but  let  your  lips  proclaim  the  puissant  as 
gods,  and  speak  no  surly  word  to  them.  But  love  none  of 
them,  no  matter  what  their  worth,  though  their  deeds  be 
trumpeted  through  the  subsolar  world!  Give  bribes,  and 
yourself  accept  them !  When  there  are  no  witnesses,  steal 
and  cheat  as  much  as  you  please,  but  be  wary  with  your 
misdoings  in  presence  of  witnesses !  Change  the  good  that 
there  is  in  people  into  evil,  and  never  say  a  good  word  of 
another!  For  what  are  you  to  gain  from  praising  them? 
Indeed,  their  virtues  put  you  only  in  a  bad  light.  Go  not 
out  of  the  way  to  serve  another,  where  there  is  no  gain  for 
you. 

"  Hate  the  learned,  and  despise  the  ignorant,  and  ever 
keep  your  thoughts  fresh  for  your  own  advantage !  Above 
all,  beware  of  getting  into  the  satire  of  impudent  scribblers ! 
Disturb  and  break  the  ties  of  families,  friendship  and 
marriage,  for  't  is  more  convenient  to  fish  in  muddy  waters. 
Know  no  love,  family  nor  friends,  for  ever  holding  yourself 
alone  in  mind!  Deceive  your  friends,  and  let  them  sufier 
through  you  sorrow  and  misfortune,  if  you  are  the  winner 
thereby!  Gamer  your  fruits  wherever  you  can!  There 
are  some  who  foolishly  call  it  dishonest  to  bring  woes  to 
your  friends,  but  they  do  not  see  that  duty  teaches  me  only 
to  love  myself,  and  that  it  is  not  at  all  dishonourable  when 
necessity  demands  that  others  perish :  it  is  contrary  to  nature 
not  to  love  yourself  best.  Let  misfortune  befall  my  country, 
let  it  go  to  the  nethermost  regions;  let  everything  that  is  not 
mine  be  ruined, — ^provided  I  have  peace. 


26o  The  Eighteenth  Century 

* '  Forget  not  my  rules !  I  have  left  you  my  fortune  and 
my  wisdom.     Live,  my  son,  live  as  your  father  has  lived!  " 

He  had  barely  uttered  these  words,  when  he  was  struck 
by  lightning,  and  he  departed  from  his  child  and  home;  and 
the  soul  that  had  for  so  long  been  disseminating  poison  flew 
out  of  the  body  and  took  its  flight  to  hell. 

TO  THE  CORRUPTERS  OF  LANGUAGE 

In  a  strange  land  there  lived  a  dog  in  a  thick  forest.  He 
deemed  his  citizens  to  be  uncultured,  so  passed  his  da3'S  in 
the  country  of  the  wolves  and  bears.  The  dog  no  longer 
barked,  but  growled  like  a  bear,  and  sang  the  songs  of 
wolves.  When  he  returned  to  the  dogs,  he  out  of  reason 
adorned  his  native  tongue.  He  mixed  the  growl  of  bears 
and  howl  of  wolves  into  his  bark,  and  began  to  speak  unin- 
telligibly to  dogs.  The  dogs  said :  ' '  We  need  not  your  new- 
fangled music — you  only  spoil  our  language  with  it "  ;  and 
they  began  to  bite  him,  until  they  killed  him. 

I  have  read  the  tombstone  of  that  dog:  "  Never  disdain 
your  native  speech,  and  introduce  into  it  nothing  foreign, 
but  adorn  yourself  with  your  own  beaut5\" 

THE  HELPFUL  GNAT 

Six  fine  horses  were  pulling  an  immense  carriage.  The 
carriage  would  have  been  a  heavy  one  without  any  people  in 
it;  but  this  enormous  carriage  was  filled  with  people,  and 
was  in  size  a  haj'Stack.  It  slowly  moved  along,  travelling 
not  over  boards,  but  carrying  the  master  and  his  wife 
through  heavy  sand,  in  which  it  finallj'  stuck  fast.  The 
horses'  strength  gave  out ;  the  lackeys  on  the  footboard,  to 
save  the  horses  and  wheels,  stepped  down ;  but  yet  the  rick 
did  not  move.  The  driver  called  to  the  horses:  "  Get  up, 
get  up !  "  and  struck  them  with  the  whip,  as  if  it  was  their 
guilt.  He  struck  them  hard  and  yelled  and  yelled,  until  he 
grew  hoarse,  while  the  horses  were  covered  with  foam,  and 
steam  rose  from  them. 

A  gnat  flew  by,  perceived  the  plight  of  the  carriage,  and 


Alexander  Petrovich  Sumarokov       261 

was  anxious  to  do  it  a  good  turn,  and  help  it  out.  So  it 
began  to  goad  the  horses  and  the  driver,  to  make  the  driver 
on  his  box  more  agile,  and  that  the  horses  might  draw  with 
more  vim.  Now  it  stung  the  driver,  now  the  horses;  it 
perspired,  worked  with  might  and  main,  but  all  in  vain;  it 
buzzed  and  buzzed,  but  all  its  songs  were  useless;  there  was 
not  the  slightest  sign  that  the  carriage  would  move ;  so  after 
having  laboured  hard,  it  flew  away.  In  the  meanwhile,  the 
horses  had  rested  themselves,  and  dragged  the  huge  mass 
out  of  the  sand.  The  gnat  saw  the  carriage  from  afar,  and 
said:  "  How  foolish  it  all  was  of  me  to  abandon  the  carriage 
just  as  it  was  to  move!  'T  is  true  I  have  worked  hard  in  the 
sand,  but  at  least  I  have  moved  the  carriage." 

FOUR  ANSWERS 

You  ask  me,  my  friend,  what  I  would  do:  (i)  if  I  were  a 
small  man  and  a  small  gentleman;  (2)  if  I  were  a  great  man 
and  a  small  gentleman ;  (3)  if  I  were  a  great  man  and  a  great 
gentleman ;  (4)  if  I  were  a  small  man  and  a  great  gentleman. 
To  the  first  question  I  answer :  I  should  use  all  my  endeavour 
to  become  acquainted  in  the  houses  of  distinguished  people 
and  men  of  power ;  I  would  not  allow  a  single  holiday  to  pass, 
without  making  the  round  of  the  city,  in  order  to  give  the 
compliments  of  the  season ;  I  would  walk  on  tiptoes  in  the 
antechambers  of  the  mighty,  and  would  treat  their  valets  to 
tobacco;  I  would  learn  to  play  all  kinds  of  games,  for  when 
you  play  cards  you  can  sit  down  shoulder  to  shoulder  with 
the  most  distinguished  people,  and  then  bend  over  to  them 
and  say  in  a  low  tone :  "  I  have  the  honour  to  report  to  your 
Excellency  such  and  such  an  affair,"  or  again  become  bolder 
and  exclaim :  ' '  You  have  thirteen  and  I  fourteen. ' '  I  would 
not  dispute  anything,  but  would  only  say:  "Just  so;  cer- 
tainly so;  most  certainly  so;  absolutely  so."  I  would  tell 
the  whole  world  that  such  and  such  a  distinguished  gentle- 
man had  condescended  to  speak  to  me,  and  if  I  could  not  say 
so  truthfully,  I  would  lie  about  it,  for  nothing  so  adorns 
speech  as  a  lie,  to  which  poets  are  witnesses. 


262  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Finally,  I  would  obtain  by  humility  and  flatterj'  a  profit- 
able place,  but  above  all  I  would  strive  to  become  a  gover- 
nor, for  that  place  is  profitable,  honourable  and  easy.  It  is 
profitable,  because  everybody  brings  gifts;  it  is  honourable, 
because  everybody  bows  before  a  governor;  it  is  easy,  be- 
cause there  is  very  little  work  to  do,  and  that  is  done  by  a 
secretary  or  scribe,  and,  they  being  sworn  people,  one  may 
entirely  rely  upon  them.  A  scribe  has  been  created  by  God 
by  whom  man  has  been  created,  and  that  opinion  is  foolish 
which  assumes  that  a  scribe's  soul  is  devoid  of  virtue.  I 
believe  there  is  little  difiFerence  between  a  man  and  a  scribe, 
much  less  difference  than  between  a  scribe  and  any  other 
creature. 

If  I  were  a  great  man  and  a  small  gentleman,  I  would,  in 
my  constant  attempt  to  be  useful  to  my  country  and  the 
world  at  large,  never  become  burdensome  to  anyone,  and 
would  put  all  my  reliance  upon  my  worth  and  my  deserts  to 
my  country ;  and  if  I  should  find  myself  deceived  in  this,  I 
should  become  insane  from  so  much  patience,  and  should 
be  a  man  who  not  only  does  nothing,  but  even  thinks 
nothing. 

If  I  were  a  great  man  and  a  great  gentleman,  I  would 
without  cessation  think  of  the  welfare  of  my  country,  of  in- 
citements to  virtue  and  dignity,  the  reward  of  merit,  the 
suppression  of  vice  and  lawlessness,  the  increase  of  learning, 
the  cheapening  of  the  necessaries  of  life,  the  preservation  of 
justice,  the  punishment  for  taking  bribes,  for  grasping, 
robbery  and  theft,  the  diminution  of  lying,  flattery,  hypoc- 
risy and  drunkenness,  the  expulsion  of  superstition,  the 
abatement  of  unnecessary  luxury,  the  limitation  of  games  at 
cards  which  rob  people  of  their  valuable  time,  the  education, 
the  founding  and  maintenance  of  schools,  the  maintenance 
of  a  well-organised  army,  the  scorn  of  rudeness,  and  the 
eradication  of  parasitism. 

But  if  I  were  a  small  man  and  a  great  gentleman,  I  would 
live  in  great  magnificence,  for  such  magnificence  is  rarely  to 
be  found  in  a  great  soul;  but  I  will  not  say  what  else  I 
would  do. 


Vasili  Ivinovich  Miykov  263 

Vasili  Iv&novich  M^ykov.    (i72»-i778.) 

Mdykov  was  the  son  of  a  landed  proprietor.  He  entered  military 
service,  in  1766  was  made  Associate  Governor  of  Moscow,  and  occu- 
pied other  high  ofiSces.  He  began  to  write  early  and,  being  an  ad- 
mirer of  Sumar6kov, — like  all  the  other  writers  of  his  day, — he  wrote 
odes,  eulogies,  fables,  tragedies,  all  of  them  in  the  pseudo-classic 
style.  He  knew  no  foreign  languages,  and  his  imitations  are  at  second 
hand.  This,  however,  gave  him  a  great  advantage  over  his  contempo- 
raries, in  that  he  was  better  acquainted  with  Russian  reality  than  with 
foreign  models.  His  mock-heroic  poem  ElisSy,  or  Excited  Bacchus, 
from  which  "The  Battle  of  the  Zimog6rans  and  Valddyans,"  g^ven 
below,  is  an  extract,  is  far  superior  for  real  humour,  Russian  environ- 
ment and  good  popular  diction  to  anything  else  produced  by  the 
Russian  writers  of  the  eighteenth  century  ;  and  the  undisputed  popu- 
larity of  the  Elisiy,  which  was  not  dimmed  even  by  Bogdan6vich's 
Pysche,  was  well  merited. 

the  batti^e  of  the  zimogorans  and  vai^ 

dAyans 

The  field  was  all  ploughed  and  sowed  in  oats,  and  after 
these  labours  all  the  cattle  and  we  were  resting.  Already 
had  the  grain  sprouted  a  quarter  of  an  inch,  and  our  time 
had  come  to  cut  the  hay.  Our  meadow,  as  all  know  well, 
bordered  on  the  meadow  of  the  Valddyans;  no  one  could  tell 
where  the  line  between  them  was  but  a  surveyor,  so  the 
strongest  hand  mowed  the  grass  there,  and  the  meadows 
were  always  a  cause  of  quarrels;  even  then  they  were  the 
cause  of  our  terrible  battle. 

The  day  had  come,  and  we  went  into  the  meadow,  taking 
with  us  milk,  eggs  and  whey-cheese,  loading  ourselves  with 
kvas,  beets,  dumplings,  brandy  and  buckwheat  cakes.  No 
sooner  had  we  appeared  with  our  provender  in  the  meadow, 
than  we  espied  the  host  before  us:  the  proud  Valddyans  were 
standing  there  with  arms  of  war.  .We  became  frightened  and 
ran  away  like  rabbits,  and  running  we  looked  for  weapons 
resembling  theirs:  withes,  pales,  poles,  cudgels  and  clubs. 
We  vied  with  each  other  to  arm  ourselves  with  sticks  and 
to  prepare  ourselves  for  the  fray.  The  chief  of  our  village, 
foreseeing  a  terrible  calamity,  seated  himself  on  his  horse 


264  The  Eighteenth  Century 

and  gathered  us  all  together;  having  gotten  us  together,  he 
took  a  pen  and  began  to  scribble.  Though  he  was  not  a 
Frenchman  nor  a  Greek,  but  a  Russian,  yet  he  was  a  govern- 
ment official  and  wore  a  crimson  uniform.  God  forfend 
that  a  scribe  should  be  a  mihtary  commander !  He  took  out 
his  pen,  and  began  to  write  down  the  names,  while  our 
backs  were  already  smarting  from  the  descent  of  a  hail  of 
stones  upon  them.  Is  it  possible  Pallas  was  with  the  scribe  ? 
For  he  was  still  writing  down  names,  while  the  Valddyans 
were  drubbing  us.  Old  women  in  the  huts  were  lamenting 
to  heaven;  small  children,  all  the  girls  and  women,  and 
chickens  hid  behind  the  stove  and  underneath  it. 

Seeing  that  there  was  to  be  no  end  to  his  writing,  we  no 
longer  listened  to  the  scribe,  but  like  a  whirlwind  swept 
down  from  all  sides  and,  pressing  forward  in  a  mass,  hastened 
to  the  fight.  Neither  fences  nor  water  could  keep  us  back, 
and  the  only  salvation  for  the  Valdij'ans  was  in  flight;  but 
they  stood  out  stubbornly  against  us,  and  with  agility  swung 
their  wooden  arms  at  us.  We  could  not  break  asunder  the 
order  of  their  ranks,  and  from  both  sides  there  flew  upon  us 
stones  and  mud,  the  implements  of  war  of  furious  men.  We 
were  bespattering  and  striking  each  other  down  without 
mercy,  but  ours  stood  like  a  firm  wall. 

Forgive  me  for  mentioning  names  which  it  would  not  be 
otherwise  proper  to  utter  here,  except  that  without  them  we 
would  not  have  been  victorious.  Even  if  our  scribe  had  been 
much  wiser,  he  would  not  have  broken  that  wall  with  his 
skull,  which  we  barely  smashed  with  our  clubs.  We  had  for 
some  time  been  striking  each  other  mightily  with  stones, 
when  our  St^pka  the  intrepid  (he  was  not  very  clever,  but  a 
powerful  man)  rushed  with  grim  rage  into  the  thickest  fight 
among  the  Valddyans:  he  struck  them  down  with  a  cudgel, 
and  they  raised  a  cry,  but  St^pka  hacked  among  them  like  a 
butcher.  Then  his  nephew,  too,  took  a  club,  flew  at  them, 
but  lost  courage  and  showed  them  his  back,  whereupon  a 
frisky  Valddyan  jumped  upon  it  and  was  on  top  of  our  hero. 
In  the  very  midst  of  the  sanguinary  fray  he  had  jumped  upon 
the  hero's  shoulder,  and  boasted  before  his  whole  horde  that 


Vasili  Iv^novich  M^ykov  265 

he  had  begun  with  a  battle  and  had  ended  with  leapfrog. 
But  the  jest  ended  badly  for  him,  for  the  Valddyan  had  not 
yet  thanked  us  for  the  ride,  when  Stepka's  nephew  grabbed 
the  Valdayan  by  the  girdle  and  so  hurled  him  to  the  ground 
that  he  broke  his  nose  and  so  flattened  it  that  he  now  has  to 
wear  a  plaster  upon  it. 

Then,  lo,  we  all  suddenly  noticed  in  the  distance  a  rider 
all  covered  with  dust:  that  was  the  proud  leader  of  the  Val- 
ddyans;  that  beast  was  a  worthy  likeness  of  our  own  man- 
ager. Raging  with  an  internal  fire  against  us,  he  galloped 
upon  his  steed  towards  our  hero.  All  thought  that  they 
would  end  the  terrible  battle  by  a  duel ;  we  all  stood  in  quiet 
expectancy,  and  terror  seized  us  all.  Already  the  heroes 
approached  each  other  on  their  horses,  but  suddenly,  it 
seemed,  they  changed  their  minds:  they  did  not  fight,  they 
only  cursed  each  other,  leaving  us  alone  to  finish  the  battle, 
while  their  horses  took  them  back  to  their  homes. 

In  the  meantime,  if  you  wish  to  know  it,  the  sun  shone 
so  that  it  was  time  for  us  to  dine;  if  the  accursed  battle  had 
not  taken  place,  I,  no  doubt,  would  have  swallowed  two  or 
three  bites  by  that  time;  but,  under  the  circumstances,  I 
thought  neither  of  beet  soup  nor  buckwheat  mush. 

When  the  horses  had  taken  away  the  commanders,  we  car- 
ried on  a  real  war:  all  order  was  suddenly  gone,  and  at  the 
same  time  all  distinction  of  great  and  small  disappeared;  we 
were  all  mixed  up,  and  all  were  equal.  Suddenly  my  brother 
swooped  down  like  a  hawk,  to  aid  us,  and  he  mixed  up  the 
battle,  like  wheat  mush  in  a  vat.  Accuse  me  not  of  lying  in 
what  I  am  going  to  tell  of  my  brother:  holding  a  heavy  club 
in  his  hand,  he  carried  terror  to  all  our  enemies:  wherever 
he  passed  there  was  a  street,  and  where  he  turned  about, 
there  was  a  square.  He  had  been  vanquishing  the  Valday- 
ans  for  an  hour,  and  they  had  all  been  running  away  from 
him,  when  all  at  once  there  appeared  his  adversary.  My 
brother's  exploit  was  stopped,  for  that  Valdayan  hung  upon 
his  neck,  and  bit  off  my  brother's  right  ear.  And  thus  my 
beloved  brother  Ilyukha,  who  had  come  to  the  battle  with 
ears,   went    away  with   but   one.      He    dragged  himself 


266  The  Eighteenth  Century 

along,  bleeding  like  a  pig,  maimed,  torn,  but  above  all, 
disgraced. 

Think  of  my  loss !  He  lost  an  ear,  and  I  a  brother !  Since 
then  I  no  longer  recognise  him  as  my  brother.  Do  not  im- 
agine that  I  have  spoken  this  in  vain :  when  he  was  possessed 
of  both  ears,  he  was  easily  moved  by  the  words  of  the  un- 
fortunate ;  but  now  that  door  is  entirely  locked,  and  he  hears 
only  when  one  says:  "  Here,  take  this!  "  but  he  no  longer 
hears  the  word  "  give,"  and  with  his  left  ear  accepts  nobody's 
prayers.  In  an  empty  well  it  is  not  likely  you  will  find  a 
treasure,  and  without  it  I  do  not  care  even  for  my  brother. 

Having  lost  such  a  hero,  we  were  bereft  of  all  means  of 
victory;  the  Valddyans  henceforth  got  the  better  of  us, 
struck  us  down,  pressed  hard  upon  us  and  drove  us  from  the 
field.  We  should  have  been  that  day  entirely  undone,  had 
not  St6pka  saved  us  from  our  dire  distress:  like  a  bolt  of 
lightning  he  suddenly  rushed  upon  us  from  behind,  and 
stopped  us,  who  were  then  in  full  flight.  ' '  Stand  still,  good 
fellows!"  he  yelled,  "stand  still!  Come  together  in  close 
array,  and  begin  anew  the  battle!"  All  was  changed.  O 
most  happy  hour!  At  St^pka's  voice  crowds  of  men  came 
together,  came,  bore  down  the  adversary,  defeated  them,  and 
wrung  the  victory  they  held  from  their  hands.  They  rushed 
together,  correcting  their  disorder,  and  hotter  than  before 
the  battle  was  renewed. 

Already  we  were  driving  our  enemy  back  to  their  village, 
and  depriving  them  of  their  cudgels  and  sticks,  and  our 
battle  would  have  been  at  an  end,  if  a  monk  had  not  ap- 
peared to  their  aid.  This  new  Balaam  was  urging  on  his 
beast  and  beating  it  with  a  stick  for  its  sluggishness;  but  all 
his  beating  of  his  dobbin  moved  her  not  a  step  ahead.  He 
somehow  managed  to  reach  the  top  of  the  hill,  and  there  his 
holy  lips  uttered  curses  against  us.  But  neither  these,  nor 
the  wooden  arms,  kept  us  back,  and  we  flew  against  our 
enemy,  and  did  our  work  among  them.  That  worthy  man, 
seeing  our  stubbornness,  leaped  from  his  horse,  and  showed 
the  swiftness  of  his  feet,  which  was  greater  than  when  he 
first  had  come,  and,  showing  us  his  back,  fled  to  his  house. 


Vasili  Ivanovich  Miykoy  267 

Dark  night  had  already  put  out  its  veil,  when  all  were 
worn  out  with  fighting.  The  Valddyans  being  vanquished, 
we  all  went  from  the  field,  and  reached  home,  though  hungry, 
yet  alive. 

THE  COOK  AND  THE  TAII.OR 

'T  is  easier  for  a  cook  to  roast  and  stew  than  for  a  tailor  to 
talk  of  cookery.  It  was,  I  know  not  where,  in  Lithuania  or 
Poland, — he  knows  of  it  who  knows  more  than  I ;  all  I  know 
is  that  a  lord  was  travelling,  and  as  he  was  returning  from  a 
visit  he  was,  naturally,  drunk.  A  man  came  from  the  oppos- 
ite direction,  and  he  met  the  lord,  phiz  to  phiz.  The  lord 
was  blown  up  with  conceit  and  liquor,  and  two  servants  led 
his  horse  for  him.  The  horse  strutted  proudly  along,  and 
the  lord  was  steeped  in  arrogance  like  a  cock.  The  man  that 
met  him  was  poorly  clad.  The  lord  interrogated  him,  like 
a  man  of  sense: 

"  What  handicraft  have  you  ?." 

"A  cook,  my  lord,  stands  before  you." 

"  If  so,  then  answer  me,  before  I  spit  into  your  face:  you 
are  a  cook,  so  you  know  what  dainties  are;  what  then  is  the 
greatest  dainty  ?  ' ' 

"A  roast  pig's  hide,"  the  cook  answered  without  hesita- 
tion. 

"  You,  cook,  are  not  a  fool,"  the  lord  said  to  him,  "  and 
gave  me  readily  an  answer,  from  which  I  conclude  that  you 
know  your  business." 

With  these  words,  the  lord  gave  him  a  generous  reward, 
just  like  a  father,  though  he  had  begot  no  children.  My 
cook,  for  joy,  tripped  lightly  along  and  was  soon  out  of  sight. 
Whom  should  he  meet  but  a  tailor,  an  old  acquaintance, 
nay,  a  friend, — not  to  the  grave,  yet  a  friend. 

' '  Whither  do  you  hurry  so  fast,  friend  Ilyd  ?  ' ' 

The  other  replied:  "Now,  my  friend,  I  can  boldly  as- 
sure you  that  the  cook's  profession  is  better  than  yours. 
You,  drunken  Petriishka,  do  not  even  guess  that  Ilyd  is 
going  to  have  a  big  celebration!     Look  at  my  pocket.     I 


268  The  Eighteenth  Century 

and  my  wife  will  be  satisfied  with  what  we  now  have;  we 
cannot  unto  our  deaths  spend  all  the  lord,  who  just  passed 
me  drunk  upon  the  road,  has  given  me. ' ' 

And  he  pulled  out  his  purse  that  was  filled  with  gold  coins: 
"  That  's  what  I  got  for  a  pig!  " 

And  he  showed  his  money  in  his  bag,  and  told  his  friend 
all  that  had  happened.  The  tailor  was  melting  with  envy, 
as  he  tried  to  count  the  money,  and  he  thought:  "  Of  course 
the  lord  is  a  fool  for  having  given  a  bag  full  of  money  for  a 
pig;  I  will  run  after  him,  and  overtake  him,  and  if  all  the 
wisdom  is  only  in  a  pig's  hide,  I  '11  shave  him  clean,  like  a 
scribe." 

Having  said  this,  the  senseless  man  started  on  the  road. 
The  lord  was  riding  leisurely  along,  and  as  the  tailor  was 
running  fast,  he  soon  overtook  him.     He  cried  to  him: 

"  Wait,  lord!  I  am  not  a  Tartar,  and  I  will  not  cut  you 
down;  I  have  no  sword,  and  I  will  not  injure  you.  I  am  all 
worn  out  with  running;  I  am  a  cook,  and  not  a  thief." 

The  lord  heard  the  words  and,  looking  back,  saw  that  it 
was  not  a  robber  with  a  club,  so  he  reined  in  his  horse.  The 
tailor  ran  up  to  him,  panting  like  a  dog,  and  barely  breath- 
ing, having  lost  his  strength  in  running.  The  lord  asked 
him: 

' '  Why,  beast,  have  you  been  running  so  senselessly  after 
me?  You  have  only  frightened  me:  I  thought  it  was  a 
robber  with  a  club  that  was  after  me." 

The  tailor  said:  "  I  am  not  a  thief,  my  lord!  " 

To  which  the  lord:  "  What  manner  of  creature  are  you, 
then?" 

' '  I  am  a  cook  by  trade,  and  know  how  to  stew  and  roast 
well." 

The  lord  asked  him  at  once :  ' '  What  is  the  sweetest  part 
of  the  ox?" 

The  rash  man  said:  "  The  hide." 

No  sooner  said  than  the  cook's  sides  and  face,  and  belly 
and  back  were  swollen,  being  struck  with  a  whip.  The 
tailor  walked  slowly  off,  weeping  disconsolately,  and  cursing 
the  lord  and  the  trade  of  a  cook. 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Danilov  269 

Mikhail  Vasilevich  Danilov.    (1722-1790.) 

The  Memoirs  of  Danilov  are  interesting  for  the  reason  that  they  in- 
dicate the  sources  from  real  life  from  which  Catherine  II.,  Fon-V£zin 
and  others  drew  the  characters  for  their  comedies.  Thus,  Matr^na 
Petr6vna  of  Dan£lov's  Memoirs  is  the  prototype  of  Mdvra's  mistress 
in  O  Tempora  (p.  272)  and  of  Mrs.  Uncouth  in  The  Minor,  p.  342. 

FROM  HIS   "MEMOIRS" 

I  was  my  father's  favourite  son.  When  I  was  about  seven 
years  old,  or  more,  I  was  turned  over,  in  the  village  of  Kharin 
where  my  father  lived,  to  the  sexton  Philip,  named  Bru- 
dasty,  for  instruction.  The  sexton  was  of  low  stature,  broad 
in  his  shoulders ;  a  large  round  beard  covered  his  chest,  his 
head  of  thick  hair  came  down  to  his  shoulders,  and  gave  the 
appearance  of  having  no  neck.  There  studied  with  him 
at  the  same  time  two  of  my  cousins,  Elis6y  and  Boris.  Our 
teacher  Brudasty  lived  alone  with  his  wife  in  a  very  small 
hut ;  I  used  to  come  to  Brudasty  for  my  lessons  early  in  the 
morning,  and  I  never  dared  to  open  his  door,  until  I  had 
said  aloud  my  prayer,  and  he  answered  "Amen. ' '  I  remem- 
ber to  the  present  day  the  instruction  I  received  from  Bru- 
dasty, probably  for  the  reason  that  he  often  whipped  me  with 
a  switch.  I  cannot  in  all  faithfulness  say  that  I  was  then 
guilty  of  indolence  or  stubbornness;  on  the  contrary  I  studied 
very  well  for  my  years,  and  my  teacher  gave  me  lessons  of 
moderate  length  and  not  above  my  strength,  so  that  I 
readily  memorised  them.  But  we  were  not  allowed  to  leave 
Bruddsty  for  a  moment,  except  for  dinner;  we  had  to  sit  un- 
interruptedly on  the  bench,  and  during  the  long  summer 
days  I  suflFered  greatly  from  this  continuous  sitting,  and 
grew  so  faint  that  my  memory  left  me,  and  when  it  came  to 
^  reciting  my  lesson  in  the  evening,  I  had  forgotten  all  I 
knew,  and  could  not  read  half  of  it,  for  which  the  final 
resolve  was  that  I  was  to  be  whipped  for  my  stupidity. 
I  grew  to  believe  that  punishment  was  an  indispensable  ac- 
companiment of  study.  Bruddsty' s  wife  kept  on  inciting 
us,  during  the  absence  of  her  husband,  that  we  should  yell 


270  The  Eighteenth  Century 

louder,  even  if  it  was  not  our  lesson.  We  felt  some  relief  in 
our  tedious  sitting  when  Bruddsty  w^as  away  in  tl;ie  field 
working.  Whenever  Bruddsty  returned  I  recited  my  les- 
sons correctly  and  without  breaking  down,  just  as  I  did  in 
the  morning  when  my  thoughts  were  not  yet  tired  out. 
From  this  I  conclude  that  compulsory  study  is  useless  to  the 
child,  because  the  mental  powers  weaken  from  bodily  labour 
and  become  languid.  This  truth  becomes  apparent  when 
we  compel  a  child  to  play  beyond  its  pleasure:  both  the  game 
and  toys  become  wearisome  to  the  child  from  mere  ennui, 
and  it  will  rarely  play  with  them,  if  not  altogether  hate 
them.  .  .  .  Such  is  the  fruit  of  senseless  and  worthless 
teachers,  like  Bruddsty:  from  mere  weary  sitting,  I  got  into 
the  habit  of  inventing  all  kinds  of  accidents  and  diseases, 
which,  in  reality,  I  never  had. 

Having  learned  the  ABC  from  Bruddsty,  my  father  took 
me  near  the  city  of  Tula  to  a  widow,  Matrena  Petr6vna,  who 
had  married  a  relative  of  ours,  Afandsi  Denisovich  Danilov. 
Matrena  Petr6vna  had  at  her  house  a  nephew  of  hers  and 
heir  to  her  property,  Epishk6v.  It  was  for  his  sake  that  she 
had  asked  my  father  to  bring  me  to  her  house  to  study,  that 
her  nephew  might  have  a  companion.  As  the  widow  loved 
her  nephew  very  much  and  fondled  him,  we  were  never  com- 
pelled to  study;  but  being  left  to  my  choice  in  the  matter, 
and  fearing  no  punishment,  I  soon  finished  my  oral  instruc- 
tion, which  consisted  only  of  the  two  books:  the  Book  of  the 
Hours  and  the  Psalter. 

The  widow  was  a  very  pious  woman :  hardly  a  day  passed 
without  having  divine  services  in  her  house,  either  with  a 
priest,  or  sometimes  a  servant  acted  in  his  capacity.  I  was 
employed  to  read  the  prayers  during  these  services,  and  as 
the  widow's  favourite  cousin  had  not  yet  learned  to  read,  he, 
from  great  envy  and  anger,  used  to  come  to  the  table  where 
I  was  reading  the  psalms,  and  kick  me  so  painfully  with  his 
boots  that  I  could  not  repress  my  tears.  Though  the  widow 
saw  her  nephew's  naughtiness,  she  never  said  anything 
more  than  in  a  drawling  voice,  as  if  against  her  will:  "  Vdn- 
ya,  you  have  had  enough  fun!  "  as  though  she  did  not  see 


Mikhail  Vasilevich  Danilov  271 

that  Vdnya's  fun  had  caused  tears  to  flow  from  my  eyes. 
She  could  not  read ;  but  she  used  to  open  every  day  a  large 
book  on  her  table,  and  pretended  to  read  loudly  the  prayer 
of  the  Holy  Virgin  to  her  people.  The  widow  was  very  fond 
of  cabbage  soup  with  mutton  at  dinner,  and  I  must  confess 
that  as  long  as  I  lived  at  her  house  I  do  not  remember  a 
single  day  that  passed  without  a  drubbing.  The  moment 
she  seated  herself  at  the  table  to  eat  her  favourite  soup, 
some  of  the  servants  dragged  the  cook  that  had  cooked  the 
soup  into  the  dining-room,  put  her  on  the  floor  and  merci- 
lessly beat  her  with  rods,  and  the  widow  never  stopped 
eating  as  long  as  they  beat  the  cook  and  she  cried  with 
pain;  that  had  become  a  regular  custom  and  evidently 
served  to  heighten  her  appetite.  The  widow  was  so  stout 
that  her  width  was  only  a  trifle  less  than  her  height. 

One  day  her  nephew  and  I  took  a  walk,  and  there  was  with 
us  a  young  servant  of  hers  who  taught  us  to  read  and  was  at 
the  same  time  studying  himself.  Her  nephew  and  prospect- 
ive heir  led  us  to  an  apple-tree  that  grew  outside  the  enclos- 
ure, and  he  began  to  knock  down  some  apples,  without 
having  first  asked  his  aunt's  permission.  This  crime  was 
reported  to  his  aunt.  She  ordered  all  three  of  us  to  be 
brought  into  her  presence  for  a  just  punishment.  She 
ordered  in  great  anger  to  take  up  at  once  our  innocent  serv- 
ant and  teacher  and  to  place  him  on  a  wooden  horse,  and 
he  was  unmercifully  whipped  for  a  long  time,  while  they 
kept  on  repeating:  "  Don't  knock  the  apples  off  the  tree!  " 
Then  came  my  turn :  the  widow  ordered  to  have  me  put  on 
the  horse,  and  I  received  three  blows  on  my  back,  though  I, 
like  the  teacher,  had  not  knocked  down  any  apples.  Her 
nephew  was  frightened,  and  he  thought  that  his  turn  would 
now  come  to  be  punished,  but  his  fear  was  groundless;  all 
the  widow  did  was  to  reprimand  him  as  follows:  "It  is 
wrong,  it  is  not  proper,  sir,  to  knock  down  apples  without 
having  received  my  permission,"  and  then  she  kissed  him 
and  said :  "  I  suppose,  Vdnya,  you  were  frightened  as  they 
whipped  your  companions;  don't  be  afraid,  my  darling! 
I  '11  not  have  you  whipped." 


2  72  The  Eighteenth  Century- 

Catherine  the  Great.    (1729-1796.) 

The  French  culture,  which  had  held  sway  in  Russia  before  Catherine 
n.,  became  even  more  pronounced  when  she  ascended  the  throne. 
She  corresponded  with  Voltaire,  ofiFered  d'Alembert  the  place  of  tutor 
to  her  son,  paid  Diderot  a  salary  as  keeper  of  his  own  library,  which 
she  had  purchased  from  him,  and,  in  the  first  part  of  her  reign, 
laboured,  at  least  platonically,  for  the  introduction  of  new  laws  in  the 
spirit  of  Rousseau  and  Montesquieu.  She  planned  to  build  schools  and 
academies,  encouraged  the  establishment  of  printing  presses,  by  mak- 
ing them  free  from  government  control,  and  by  her  own  example  did 
much  to  foster  literature.  One  of  her  earliest  ventures  is  her  famous 
Instruction  for  the  commission  that  had  been  called  to  present  a  pro- 
ject for  a  new  code  of  laws.  She  composed  a  large  number  of  come- 
dies, tragedies  and  operas,  wrote  a  work  on  Russian  proverbs  and  a 
number  of  fairy  tales.  Of  the  latter  her  Prince  Khlor  gave  Derzhdvin 
an  occasion  to  immortalise  her  as  Felitsa,  and  to  inaugurate  a  new 
style  of  ode.  Catherine  was  the  first  to  found  a  satirical  journal,  the 
All  Kinds  of  Things  (see  p.  326),  the  prototype  of  a  number  of  similar 
periodical  publications.  The  latter  part  of  her  reign  is  characterised 
by  a  reactionary  tendency,  due  to  her  general  distrust  of  the  Masons, 
who  had  taken  a  firm  foothold  in  Russia  and  whom  she  suspected  of 
favouring  the  French  Revolution.  She  then  put  literature  under  a  ban, 
and  caused  much  annoyance  to  men  like  N6vikov  and  Radishchev. 

Her  Prince  Khlor  has  been  translated  into  English  under  the  title  : 
Ivan  Czarovitz;  or.  The  Rose  Without  Prickles  That  Stings  Not,  A 
Tale,  written  by  her  Imperial  Majesty,  translated  from  the  Russian 
Language,  London,  1793.  It  had  previously  appeared  in  a  periodical 
paper.  The  Bee,  published  at  Edinburgh.     It  is  reproduced  here. 

Act  I.,  Scene  4,  oi  Mrs.  Grumble's  Birthday,  in  C.  E.  Turner's 
Studies  in  Russian  Literature,  and  the  same,  in  Fraser's  Magazine, 

1877. 

There  is  also  a  translation  of  Catherine's  Memoirs,  originally  writ- 
ten by  her  in  French,  under  the  title:  Memoirs  of  the  Empress 
Catherine  II.,  Written  by  Herself,  with  a  Preface  by  A.  Herzen, 
translated  from  the  French,  London  and  New  York,  1859. 

O  TEMPORA 

ACT  I.,    SCENE    I.      MR.   SENSIBLE,  mA-VRA 

Mdvra.  Believe  me,  I  am  telling  you  the  truth.  You 
cannot  see  her.  She  is  praying  now,  and  I  dare  not  go  into 
her  room  myself. 

Sensible.  Does  she  really  pray  all  day  long  ?     No  matter 


Catherine  the  Great  273 

at  what  time  I  come,  I  am  told  I  cannot  see  her:  she  was 
this  morning  at  matins,  and  now  she  is  praying  again. 

Mdvra.  That  is  the  way  our  time  is  passed. 

Sensible.  It  is  good  to  pray.  But  there  are  also  duties  in 
our  life,  which  we  are  obliged  to  carry  out.  Do  you  mean 
to  tell  me  that  she  prays  day  and  night  ? 

Mdvra.  No.  Our  exercises  are  often  changed,  yet  all 
goes  in  a  certain  order.  Sometimes  we  have  simple  serv- 
ices; at  others  they  read  the  Monthly  Readings;  at  others 
again  the  reading  is  omitted,  and  our  lady  gives  us  a  ser- 
mon on  prayer,  abstinence  and  fasting. 

Sensible.  I  have  heard  it  said  that  your  lady  is  very  sancti- 
monious, but  I  have  not  heard  much  about  her  virtues. 

Mdvra.  To  tell  the  truth,  I  cannot  say  much  about  that ' 
either.  She  very  often  speaks  to  her  servants  on  abstinence 
and  fasting,  especially  when  she  distributes  the  monthly 
allowances.  She  never  shows  so  much  earnestness  in  pray- 
ing as  when  creditors  come  and  ask  to  be  paid  for  goods 
taken  on  credit.  She  once  hurled  the  prayer-book  so  violently 
at  my  head  that  she  hurt  me  and  I  was  compelled  to  lie  in 
bed  for  nearly  a  week.  And  why  ?  Because  I  came  during 
vesper  service  to  report  that  the  merchant  had  come  to  ask 
for  his  money  which  he  had  loaned  to  her  at  six  per  cent., 
and  which  she  had  loaned  out  again  at  sixteen.  "Accursed 
one,"  she  cried  to  me,  "  is  this  a  time  to  disturb  me  ?  You 
have  come,  like  Satan,  to  tempt  me  with  worldly  affairs  at  a 
time  when  all  my  thoughts  are  given  to  repentance  and  are 
removed  from  all  cares  of  this  world. ' '  After  having  uttered 
this  in  great  anger,  she  hurled  her  prayer-book  at  my  temple. 
Look,  there  is  still  a  mark  there,  but  I  have  covered  it  with  a 
beauty-spot.  It  is  very  hard  to  please  her,  for  she  is  a  very 
strange  person:  sometimes  she  does  not  want  to  be  spoken 
to;  and  then  again  she  prattles  in  church  without  stopping. 
She  says  that  it  is  sinful  to  judge  your  neighbour,  and  yet  she 
herself  passes  judgment  on  all,  and  talks  about  everybody. 
She  especially  cannot  bear  young  ladies,  and  she  is  always 
of  the  opinion  that  they  never  do  as  they  ought  to  do. 

Sensible.  I  am  glad  to  find  out  about  her  habits.     This 

VOL.  I. — 18. 


274  The  Eighteenth  Century 

knowledge  will  help  me  a  great  deal  in  the  matter  of  Mr. 
Milksop's  marriage.  But,  to  tell  the  truth,  it  will  be  a  hard 
thing  for  him  to  get  along  with  such  a  woman:  she  will 
either  drive  him  out  of  the  house  or  into  his  grave.  She 
demanded  herself  that  I  should  come  to  Moscow  to  talk 
over  her  grandchild's  marriage.  So  I  took  a  leave  of 
absence  for  twenty-nine  days,  and  came  down  here  from  St. 
Petersburg.  It  is  now  three  weeks  that  I  have  been  here, 
and  that  I  have  attempted  to  see  her,  and  she  is  all  the  time 
finding  new  excuses.  My  time  will  soon  be  up,  and  I  shall 
have  to  return.  What  is  it  going  to  be  to-day  ?  She  has 
promised  to  give  a  decisive  answer,  though  I  do  not  yet  see 
the  beginning  of  it. 

Mdvra.  Have  a  little  patience,  sir.  Maybe  you  will  be 
able  to  see  her  after  vespers;  before  that  time  she  does  not 
like  to  receive  guests. 

Sensible.  But  I  have  a  great  deal  to  talk  to  her  about,  so 
please  tell  her  that  I  am  here.  Maybe  she  will  let  me  in 
this  time. 

Mdvra.  No,  sir,  for  nothing  in  the  world  will  I  report  to 
her,  for  I  shall  be  beaten,  or  at  least  roundly  scolded.  She 
grumbles  at  me  as  it  is  and  calls  me  a  heathen  because  I 
sometimes  read  the  Monthly  Essays,  or  Cleveland. 

Sensible.  But  you  may  tell  her  that  I  am  very  anxious  to 
see  her. 

Mdvra.  As  soon  as  vespers  are  over,  I  shall  go  to  her,  but 
not  sooner.  Yet,  I  do  not  advise  you  to  stay  longer  than 
six  o'clock.  At  that  time  she  receives  the  visits  of  ladies 
like  her  who  amuse  her  with  bits  of  news  that  they  have 
gathered  in  all  the  comers  of  the  city.  They  talk  about  all 
their  acquaintances,  and  malign  them,  and  in  their  Christian 
love  pass  them  over  in  review.  They  inform  her  of  all  the  news 
of  St.  Petersburg,  adding  to  them  their  own  l5ang  inven- 
tions: some  say  less,  others  more.  No  one  in  that  assembly 
is  responsible  for  the  truth, — that  we  do  not  care  for, — pro- 
vided all  they  have  heard  and  have  invented  has  been  told. 

Sensible.  Will  she  at  least  invite  me  to  supper  ?  What 
do  you  think  about  that  ? 


Catherine  the  Great  275 

Mdvra.  I  doubt  it.  What  suppers  do  you  expect  of 
fasters  ? 

Sensible.  What  ?  Do  you  fast  out  of  stinginess  ?  To-day 
is  not  a  fast-day. 

Mdvra.  I  did  not  mean  exactly  that,  only, — only — we  do 
not  like  extra  guests. 

Sensible.  Speak  more  openly  with  me,  Mdvra,  for  you 
certainly  must  know  your  mistress.  Tell  me  the  truth.  It 
seems  to  me  that  she  is  full  of  superstitions  and  hypocrisy, 
and  that  she  is  at  that  a  mean  woman. 

Mdvra.  He  who  looks  for  virtues  in  long  prayers  and  in 
external  forms  and  observances  will  not  leave  my  lady  with- 
out praise.  She  strictly  observes  all  holidays;  goes  every 
day  to  mass;  always  places  a  taper  before  the  images  on  a 
holiday;  never  eats  meat  on  a  fast-day;  wears  woollen 
dresses, — do  not  imagine  that  she  does  so  from  niggardli- 
ness,— and  despises  all  who  do  not  follow  her  example.  She 
cannot  bear  the  customs  of  the  day  and  luxury,  but  likes  to 
boast  of  the  past  and  of  those  days  when  she  was  fifteen  years 
old,  since  when,  the  Lord  be  blessed!  there  have  passed  fifty 
years  or  more. 

Sensible.  As  regards  external  luxury,  I  myself  do  not  like 
it,  and  I  gladly  agree  with  her  in  that,  just  as  I  respect  the 
sincerity  of  ancient  days.  Praiseworthy,  most  praiseworthy 
is  the  ancient  faithfulness  of  friendship,  and  the  stern  observ- 
ance of  a  promise,  for  fear  that  the  non-observance  of  the  same 
might  redound  to  one's  dishonour.  In  all  that  I  am  of  the 
same  opinion  with  her.  It  is  a  pity,  a  real  pity,  that  now-a- 
days  people  are  ashamed  of  nothing,  and  many  young  people 
no  longer  blush  when  they  utter  a  lie  or  cheat  their  creditors, 
nor  young  women  when  they  deceive  their  husbands. 

Mdvra.  Let  us  leave  that  alone.  In  her  dress  and  head- 
gear, you  will  find  the  representation  of  the  fashion  of  her 
ancestors,  and  in  this  she  discovers  a  certain  virtue  and 
purity  of  morals. 

Sensible.  But  why  ancestral  morals  ?  Those  are  nothing 
else  but  meaningless  customs  which  she  does  not  distinguish 
or  cannot  distinguish  from  morals. 


276  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Mdvra.  Yet,  according  to  the  opinion  of  my  lady,  the 
older  a  dress,  the  more  venerable  it  is. 

Sensible.  Tell  me,  then,  what  she  does  during  the  whole 
day. 

Mdvra.  But  how  can  I  remember  it  all  ?  And  then,  I  can 
hardly  tell  it  all,  for  you  will  only  laugh.  Well,  I  do  not 
care;  I  '11  tell  you  a  little  about  it.  She  rises  in  the  morning 
at  six  o'clock  and,  following  a  good  old  custom,  gets  out  of 
bed  bare- footed;  then  she  fixes  the  lamp  before  the  images; 
then  reads  her  morning  prayers  and  the  Book  of  the  Saints; 
then  she  combs  her  cat  and  picks  the  fleas  off"  of  her,  and 
sings  the  verse:  "  Blessed  is  he  who  is  kind  to  the  beasts!  " 
During  this  singing  she  does  not  forget  to  think  of  us  also: 
she  favours  one  with  a  box  on  her  ears,  another  with  a  beat- 
ing, and  another  with  scolding  and  cursing.  Then  begins 
the  morning  mass,  during  which  she  alternately  scolds  the 
servant  and  mumbles  prayers;  she  now  sends  the  people 
that  had  been  guilt}'  of  some  transgression  on  the  previous 
day  to  the  stable  to  be  beaten  with  rods,  and  now  again  she 
hands  the  censer  to  the  priest;  now  she  scolds  her  grandchild 
for  being  so  young,  and  now  again  she  makes  her  obeisances 
as  she  counts  the  beads  on  the  rosar>' ;  now  she  passes  in  re- 
view the  young  men  into  whose  hands  she  could  rid  herself 
of  her  grandchild  without  a  dowry,  and  now  .  .  .  ah ! 
wait  a  minute,  sir,  I  hear  a  noise,  and  it  is  time  for  me  to 
get  away  from  here.  It  is,  no  doubt,  my  lady,  and  I  am 
afraid  she  might  find  us  together:  there  is  no  telling  what 
she  might  think  of  it.     {Exit.) 

PRINCE  KHLOR 

Before  the  times  of  Ki,  Knyaz  of  Kiev,  a  Tsar  lived  in 
Russia,  a  good  man  who  loved  truth,  and  wished  well  to 
everybody.  He  often  travelled  through  his  dominions,  that 
he  might  know  how  the  people  lived,  and  everywhere  in- 
formed himself  if  they  acted  fairlj*. 

The  Tsar  had  a  Tsaritsa.  The  Tsar  and  the  Tsaritsa 
lived  harmoniously.  The  Tsaritsa  travelled  with  the  Tsar, 
and  did  not  like  to  be  absent  from  him. 


Catherine  the  Great  277 

The  Tsar  and  Tsaritsa  arrived  at  a  certain  town  built  on  a 
high  hill  in  the  middle  of  a  wood,  where  a  son  was  born  to 
the  Tsar;  and  they  gave  him  the  name  Khlor.  But  in  the 
midst  of  this  joy,  and  of  a  three-days'  festivity,  the  Tsar  re- 
ceived the  disagreeable  intelligence  that  his  neighbours  do 
not  live  quietly, — make  inroads  into  his  territories,  and  do 
many  injuries  to  the  inhabitants  of  the  borders.  The  Tsar 
took  the  armies  that  were  encamped  in  the  neighbourhood, 
and  went  with  his  troops  to  protect  the  borders.  The  Tsar- 
itsa went  with  the  Tsar;  the  Tsar^vich  remained  in  the  same 
town  and  house  in  which  he  was  bom.  The  Tsar  appointed 
to  him  seven  prudent  matrons,  well  experienced  in  the 
education  of  children.  The  Tsar  ordered  the  town  to  be 
fortified  with  a  stone  wall,  having  towers  at  the  corners;  but 
they  placed  no  cannon  on  the  towers,  because  in  those  days 
they  had  no  cannon.  The  house  in  which  the  Tsarevich 
remained  was  built  of  Siberian  marble  and  porphyry,  and 
was  very  neat  and  conveniently  laid  out.  Behind  the  palace 
were  planted  gardens  with  fruit  trees,  near  which  fish-ponds 
beautified  the  situation;  summer-houses  made  in  the  taste 
of  various  nations,  from  which  the  view  extended  to  the 
neighbouring  fields  and  plains,  added  agreeableness  to  the 
dwelling. 

As  the  Tsarevich  grew  up,  his  female  guardians  began  to 
remark  that  he  was  no  less  prudent  and  sprightly  than 
handsome.  The  fame  of  the  beauty,  wisdom  and  fine  ac- 
complishments of  the  Tsarevich  was  spread  abroad  on  all 
sides.  A  certain  Khan  of  the  Kirgiz  Tartars,  wandering  in 
the  deserts  with  his  kibitkas,'  heard  of  this  and  was  anxious 
to  see  so  extraordinary  an  infant ;  and  having  seen  him,  he 
formed  a  wish  to  carry  him  away  into  the  desert.  He  began 
by  endeavouring  to  persuade  the  guardians  to  travel  with 
the  Tsarevich  and  him  into  the  desert.  The  matrons  told 
him  with  all  politeness  that  it  was  impossible  to  do  this  with- 
out the  Tsar's  permission;  that  they  had  not  the  honour  of 
knowing  my  lord  Khan,  and  that  they  never  pay  any  visits 

'  A  sort  of  tents  made  of  mats  ;  also  a  kind  of  covered  waggon  used 
for  travelling  in  Russia. 


27S  The  Eighteenth  Century 

with  the  Tsar^vich  to  strangers.  The  Khau  was  not  con- 
tented with  this  polite  answer,  and  stuck  to  them  closer  than 
formerly,  j  ust  like  a  hungry  person  to  a  piece  of  paste,  and 
insisted  that  the  nurses  should  go  with  the  child  into  the 
desert.  Having  at  last  received  a  flat  denial,  he  was  con- 
vinced he  could  not  succeed  in  his  intentions  by  entreaties, 
and  sent  them  a  present.  They  returned  him  thanks, — sent 
his  present  back,  and  ordered  to  tell  him  that  they  were  in 
want  of  nothing.  , 

The  Khan,  obstinate  and  fixed  in  his  resolution,  con- 
sidered what  was  to  be  done.  It  came  into  his  head  to 
dress  himself  in  tattered  clothes;  and  he  sat  down  at  the 
gate  of  the  garden,  as  if  he  were  a  sick  old  man;  and  he 
begged  alms  of  the  passengers.  The  Tsar6vich  happened  to 
take  that  day  a  walk  in  the  garden ;  and,  observing  that  a 
certain  old  man  sat  at  the  gate,  sent  to  ask  who  the  old  man 
was.  They  returned  with  answer  that  he  was  a  sick  beggar; 
Khlor,  like  a  boy  possessed  of  much  curiosity,  asked  leave 
to  look  at  the  sick  beggar.  The  matrons,  to  pacify  Khlor, 
told  him  that  there  was  nothing  to  be  seen;  and  that  he 
might  send  the  beggar  alms.  Khlor  wished  to  give  the 
money  himself,  and  ran  off.  The  attendants  ran  after  him ; 
but  the  faster  they  ran,  the  faster  the  child  set  out,  and  got 
without  the  gate.  Having  run  up  to  the  faint  beggar,  his  foot 
catched  a  stone,  and  he  fell  upon  his  face.  The  beggar  sprang 
up,  took  the  child  under  his  arm,  and  set  a-running  down  the 
hill.  A  gilded  rospuski  (a  kind  of  cart  with  four  wheels) 
trimmed  with  velvet,  stood  there:  he  got  on  the  rosp6ski, 
and  galloped  away  with  the  Tsarevich  into  the  desert. 

When  the  guardians  had  run  up  to  the  gate,  they  found 
neither  beggar  nor  child;  nor  did  they  see  any  traces  of 
them.  Indeed  there  was  no  road  at  the  place  where  the 
Khan  went  down  the  hill.  Sitting  on  the  rospdski,  he  held 
the  Tsarevich  before  him  with  one  hand,  like  a  chicken  by 
the  wing;  and  with  the  other  he  waved  his  cap  round  his 
head,  and  cried  three  times,  **  Hurrah!"  On  hearing  his 
voice,  the  guardians  ran  to  the  slope  of  the  hill,  but  it  was  too 
late :  they  could  not  overtake  them. 


Catherine  the  Great  279 

The  Khan  carried  Khlor  in  safety  to  his  camp,  and  went 
into  his  kibitka,  where  the  grandees  met  the  Khan.  The 
Khan  appointed  to  Khlor  his  best  starshina. '  This  starshind 
took  him  in  his  arms,  and  carried  him  into  a  richly  orna- 
mented kibitka,  covered  with  Chinese  stuffs  and  Persian 
carpets.  He  set  the  child  on  a  cushion  of  cloth,  and  tried 
to  pacify  him;  but  Khlor  cried  and  repented  he  had  run 
away  from  his  guardians.  He  was  continually  asking 
whither  they  were  carrying  him,  for  what  reason,  to  what 
purpose,  and  where  he  was.  The  starshiud  and  the  Kirgiz 
that  were  with  him  told  him  many  stories.  One  said  that 
it  was  so  ordained  by  the  course  of  the  stars;  another  that  it 
was  better  living  than  at  home.  They  told  him  all  but  the 
truth.  Seeing  that  nothing  could  pacify  him,  they  tried  to 
frighten  him  with  nonsense ;  they  told  him  they  would  turn 
him  into  a  bat  or  a  hawk, — that  they  would  give  him  to  the 
wolf  or  frog  to  be  eaten.  The  Tsar^vich  was  not  fearful, 
and  amid  his  tears  laughed  at  such  nonsense.  The  starshind, 
seeing  that  the  child  had  left  off  crying,  ordered  the  table  to 
be  covered.  They  covered  the  table  and  served  the  supper. 
The  Tsardvich  ate  a  little:  they  then  presented  preserves 
and  such  fruit  as  they  had.  After  supper  they  undressed 
him  and  put  him  to  sleep. 

Next  morning  before  daybreak,  the  Khan  gathered  his 
grandees,  and  spoke  to  them  as  follows:  "  Let  it  be  known 
unto  you  that  I  yesterday  carried  off  the  Tsar^vich  Khlor,  a 
child  of  uncommon  beauty  and  prudence.  I  wish  to  know 
perfectly  whether  all  is  true  that  is  said  of  him ;  and  I  am 
determined  to  employ  every  means  of  trying  his  qualifica- 
tions." The  grandees  having  heard  the  Khan's  words 
bowed  themselves  to  the  girdle.  The  flatterers  among  them 
praised  the  Khan's  conduct,  that  he  had  carried  off  a  child, 
nay,  the  child  of  a  neighbouring  Tsar.  The  mean-spirited 
approved,  saying:  "Right  lord  Khan,  our  hope,  whatever 
you  do  must  be  right."  A  few  of  them  who  really  loved  the 
Khan  shook  their  heads,  and  when  the  Khan  asked  why 
they  held  their  tongues,  they  told  him  frankly:  "  You  have 

*  An  elder. 


28o  The  Eighteenth  Century 

done  wrong  in  carrying  off  the  son  of  a  neighbouring  Tsar; 
and  you  cannot  escape  misfortune,  unless  you  compensate 
for  this  step."  The  Khan  answered:  "Just  so, — you  are 
always  discontented ! ' '  and  passed  by  them.  He  ordered 
the  Tsar6vich  to  be  brought  to  him  as  soon  as  he  should 
awake.  The  child,  seeing  that  they  wished  to  carry  him, 
said:  "Do  not  trouble  yourselves,  I  can  walk.  I  will  go 
myself."  Having  come  into  the  Khan's  kibitka,  he  bowed 
to  them  all,  first  to  the  Khan,  and  then  to  the  rest  on  the 
right  and  left.  He  then  placed  himself  before  the  Khan 
with  such  a  respectful,  polite  and  prudent  mien,  that  he 
filled  all  the  Kirgiz  and  the  Khan  himself  with  wonder. 
The  Khan,  however,  recollecting  himself,  spoke  as  follows: 
"  Tsar^vich  Khlor!  They  say  of  you  that  you  are  a  wise 
child,  pray  seek  me  a  flower, — a  rose  without  prickles  that 
stings  not.  Your  tutor  will  show  you  a  wide  field.  I  give 
you  a  term  of  three  days."  The  child  bowing  again  to  the 
Khan  said:  "  I  hear,"  and  went  out  of  the  kibitka  to  his 
home. 

In  the  way  he  met  the  Khan's  daughter,  who  was  married 
to  the  Sultan  Bry tizga. '  This  man  never  laughed  himself, 
and  could  not  bear  that  another  should  smile.  The  Sultana, 
on  the  contrary,  was  of  a  sprightly  temper  and  very  agree- 
able. She,  seeing  Khlor,  said  to  him:  "  Welcome,  Khlor, 
how  do  you  do  ?  Where  are  you  going  ?  "  The  Tsar^vich 
answered:  "  By  order  of  your  father  the  Khan,  I  am  going 
to  seek  the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings  not."  The  Sul- 
tana Felitsa  (that  was  her  name)  wondered  that  they  should 
send  a  child  to  seek  such  a  rarity,  and,  taking  a  sincere  liking 
to  the  boy,  she  said  to  him :  '  *  Tsardvich,  stay  a  little,  I  will 
go  with  you  to  seek  the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings  not, 
if  my  father  will  give  me  leave."  Khlor  went  into  his 
kibitka  to  dine,  for  it  was  dinner-time,  and  the  Sultana  went 
to  the  Khan  to  ask  leave  to  go  with  the  Tsar6vich  to  seek 
the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings  not.  He  did  not  only 
not  give  her  leave,  but  strictly  forbade  her  to  go  with  the 
child  to  seek  the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings  not. 
'  From  a  word  meaning  choleric. 


Catherine  the  Great  281 

Felitsa,  having  left  the  Khan,  persuaded  her  husband, 
Sultan  Bryuzga,  to  stay  with  her  father  the  Khan,  and  went 
herself  to  the  Tsar^vich.  He  was  very  happy  to  see  her, 
and  begged  her  to  sit  down  beside  him,  which  she  did,  and 
said :  * '  The  Khan  has  forbid  me  to  go  with  you,  Tsar6vich, 
to  seek  the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings  not;  but  I  will 
give  you  good  advice:  pray  do  not  forget, — do  you  hear — do 
not  forget  what  I  tell  you."  The  Tsarevich  promised  to 
remember.  "At  some  distance  from  hence,"  continued  she, 
"  as  you  go  to  seek  the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings  not, 
you  will  meet  with  people  of  very  agreeable  manners  who 
will  endeavour  to  persuade  you  to  go  with  them.  They  will 
tell  you  a  great  many  entertainments,  and  that  they  spend 
their  time  in  innumerable  pleasures.  Do  not  believe  them : 
they  lie.  Their  pleasures  are  false,  and  attended  with  much 
weariness.  After  them  you  will  see  others  who  will  still 
more  earnestly  press  you  on  the  same  subject.  Refuse  them 
with  firmness,  and  they  will  leave  you.  You  will  then  get 
into  a  wood.  There  you  will  find  flatterers  who  by  agree- 
able conversation,  and  every  other  means,  will  endeavour  to 
draw  you  out  of  your  proper  way.  But  do  not  forget  that 
you  have  nothing  to  do  but  to  seek  one  flower,  a  rose  with- 
out prickles  that  stings  not.  I  love  you,  and  will  send  my 
son  to  meet  you,  who  will  help  you  to  find  the  rose  without 
prickles  that  stings  not."  Khlor,  having  heard  the  words  of 
Felitsa,  asked  her :  "  Is  it  so  diflScult  to  find  the  rose  without 
prickles  that  stings  not?"  "No,"  answered  the  Sultana, 
"  it  is  not  so  very  difficult  to  an  upright  person  who  perse- 
veres firmly  in  his  intention. ' '  Khlor  asked  if  ever  anybody 
had  found  that  flower.  "  I  have  seen,"  said  Felitsa,  "  peas- 
ants and  tradesmen  who  have  as  happily  succeeded  in  this 
pursuit  as  nobles,  kings  or  queens."  The  Sultana  having 
said  this,  took  leave  of  the  Tsarevich.  The  starshina,  his 
tutor,  led  him  to  seek  the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings 
not;  and  for  this  purpose  let  him  out  at  a  wicket  into  a  large 
game  park. 

On  entering  the  park,  Khlor  saw  a  vast  number  of  roads. 
Some  were  straight,  some  crooked,  and  some  full  of  intricate 


282  The  Eighteenth  Century 

windings.  The  child  did  not  know  which  way  to  go,  but  on 
seeing  a  youth  coming  towards  him,  he  made  haste  to  meet 
him  and  ask  who  he  was.  The  youth  answered:  "I  am 
Razsudok  (Reason),  the  son  of  Felitsa.  My  mother  sent 
me  to  accompany  you  in  your  search  for  the  rose  without 
prickles  that  stings  not. ' ' 

The  Tsar^vich  thanked  Felitsa  with  heart  and  lips  and, 
having  taken  the  youth  by  the  hand,  informed  himself  of 
the  way  he  should  go.  Razsudok  said  with  a  cheerful  and 
assured  look:  "  Fear  naught,  Tsar^vich,  let  us  go  on  the 
straight  road,  where  few  walk  though  it  is  more  agreeable 
than  the  others."  "  Why  do  not  all  keep  the  straight 
road  ?  "  said  the  Tsar6vich,  "  Because,"  replied  the  youth, 
"they  lose  themselves  and  get  bewildered  in  the  others." 
In  going  along,  the  youth  showed  Khlor  a  very  beautiful 
little  path,  and  said :  ' '  Look,  Tsar^vich !  This  is  called  the 
Path  of  the  Nonage  of  Well- Disposed  Souls.  It  is  very 
pretty  but  very  short." 

They  pursued  their  way  through  a  wood  into  an  agreeable 
plain,  through  which  ran  a  rivulet  of  clear  water.  On  the 
banks  they  saw  troops  of  young  people.  Some  were  sitting 
on  the  grass,  and  others  were  lying  under  the  trees.  As 
soon  as  they  saw  the  Tsar^vich,  they  got  up  and  came  to 
him.  One  of  them  with  great  politeness  and  insinuation  of 
manner  addressed  him.  ' '  Give  me  leave, ' '  said  he,  ' '  to  ask 
you,  sir,  where  you  are  going?  Did  you  come  here  by 
chance  ?  Can  we  have  the  pleasure  of  serving  you  in  any- 
thing? Your  appearance  fills  us  with  respect  and  friend- 
ship, and  we  are  ravished  with  the  number  of  your  brilliant 
accomplishments."  The  Tsar^vich,  recollecting  the  words 
of  Felitsa,  replied:  "  I  have  not  the  honour  to  know  you, 
and  you  also  are  unacquainted  with  me.  I  therefore  attrib- 
ute your  compliments  to  your  politeness,  and  not  to  my  own 
merits.  I  am  going  to  seek  the  rose  without  prickles  that 
stings  not."  Another  of  the  company  joined  the  conversa- 
tion, and  said :  ' '  Your  intention  is  a  proof  of  your  talents. 
But  oblige  us  so  far  as  to  favour  us  with  your  company  a  few 
days,  and  to  take  a  share  in  the  inimitable  pleasures  which 


Catherine  the  Great  283 

we  enjoy."  Khlor  told  him  that  he  was  restricted  to  a  time, 
and  that  he  could  not  delay  lest  he  should  incur  the  Khan's 
displeasure.  They  endeavoured  to  persuade  him  that  rest 
was  necessary  for  his  health,  and  that  he  could  not  find  a 
place  for  this  purpose  more  convenient,  nor  people  more 
inclined  to  serve  him.  It  is  impossible  to  conceive  how  they 
begged  and  persuaded  him.  At  length  the  men  and  women 
took  each  other  by  the  hand,  and  formed  a  ring  about  Khlor 
and  his  conductor,  and  began  to  leap  and  dance,  and  hinder 
them  from  going  farther;  but  while  they  were  whirling 
themselves  about,  Razstidok  snatched  Khlor  under  his  arm 
and  ran  out  of  the  ring  with  such  speed  that  the  dancers 
could  not  catch  hold  of  them. 

Having  proceeded  farther,  they  came  to  Lentydg '  Murza 
(the  sluggard  chief),  the  chief  governor  of  the  place,  who  was 
taking  a  walk  with  his  household.  He  received  Khlor  and 
his  conductor  very  civilly,  and  asked  them  into  his  lodging. 
As  they  were  a  little  tired,  they  went  in  with  him.  He  de- 
sired them  to  sit  down  on  the  divan,  and  laid  himself  by 
them  on  down  pillows  covered  with  old-fashioned  cloth  of 
gold.  His  domestic  friends  sat  down  round  the  walls  of  the 
chamber.  Lentyag  Murza  then  ordered  pipes,  tobacco  and 
cofiee  to  be  served.  Having  understood  that  they  did  not 
smoke  nor  drink  coflFee,  he  ordered  the  carpets  to  be  sprinkled 
with  perfumes,  and  asked  Khlor  the  reason  for  his  excursion 
into  the  game  park.  The  Tsar^vich  answered  that  by  the 
order  of  the  Khan  he  was  in  quest  of  the  rose  without  prickles 
thgit  stings  not.  I^entydg  Murza  was  amazed  that  he  could 
undertake  such  an  arduous  attempt  at  so  early  an  age.  Ad- 
dressing himself  to  Khlor:  "  Older  than  you,"  said  he,  "are 
scarce  equal  to  such  a  business.  Rest  a  little,  don't  proceed 
farther.  I  have  many  people  here  who  have  endeavoured 
to  find  out  this  flower,  but  have  all  got  tired  and  have  de- 
serted the  pursuit. ' '  One  of  them  that  were  present  then  got 
up  and  said:  "  I  myself  more  than  once  tried  to  find  it,  but  I 
tired  of  it,  and  instead  of  it  I  have  found  my  benefactor 
Lentydg  Murza,  who  supplies  me  with  meat  and  drink." 
'  Prom  a  word  taeaning  indolent. 


284  The  Eighteenth  Century 

In  the  midst  of  this  conversation  Lentydg  Murza's  head 
sunk  into  a  pillow,  and  he  fell  asleep.  As  soon  as  those  that 
were  seated  about  the  walls  of  the  room  heard  that  Lentyag 
Murza  began  to  snore,  they  got  up  softly.  Some  of  them 
went  to  dress  themselves,  some  to  sleep.  Some  took  to  idle 
conversation,  and  some  to  cards  and  dice.  During  these 
employments  some  flew  into  a  passion,  others  were  well 
pleased,  and  upon  the  faces  of  all  were  marked  the  various 
situations  of  their  souls.  When  Lentydg  Murza  awoke, 
they  again  gathered  around  them,  and  a  table  covered  with 
fruit  was  brought  into  the  room.  Lentydg  Murza  remained 
among  his  pillows,  and  from  thence  asked  the  Tsarevich, 
who  very  earnestly  observed  all  that  passed,  to  eat.  Khlor 
was  just  going  to  taste  what  was  oflfered  by  Lentydg  Murza, 
when  his  conductor  pulled  him  gently  by  the  sleeve,  and  a 
bunch  of  fine  grapes  which  he  had  laid  hold  of  fell  out  of  his 
hand  and  was  scattered  upon  the  pavement.  Recollecting 
himself  immediately  he  got  up,  and  they  left  Lentyag  Murza. 

Not  far  from  this  they  spied  the  house  of  a  peasant,  sur- 
rounded by  several  acres  of  well-cultivated  ground,  on  which 
were  growing  several  kinds  of  corn,  as  rye,  oats,  barley, 
buckwheat,  etc.  Some  of  this  corn  was  ripening,  and  some 
only  springing  up.  A  little  farther  they  saw  a  meadow  on 
which  horses,  cows  and  sheep  were  grazing.  They  found 
the  landlord  with  a  watering-pan  in  his  hand,  with  which 
he  was  watering  the  cucumbers  and  cabbage  set  by  his  wife. 
The  children  were  employed  in  clearing  away  the  useless 
weeds  from  among  the  garden  stuffs.  Razsudok  addressed 
them:  "  God  be  with  you,  good  people!  "  They  answered; 
"  Thank  you,  young  gentlemen,"  and  they  made  a  distant 
bow  to  the  Tsar6vich  as  to  a  stranger;  but  in  a  friendly  man- 
ner they  addressed  Razsddok :  "  Be  so  kind  as  to  go  into  our 
dwelling:  your  mother  the  Sultana  loves  us,  visits  us  and 
does  not  neglect  us."  Razsudok  consented  and  with  Khlor 
went  into  the  yard.  In  the  middle  of  the  yard  there  stood 
an  old  and  lofty  oak,  under  which  was  a  broad  and  clean- 
scraped  bench,  with  a  table  before  it.  The  landlady  and  her 
daughter-in-law  spread  a  table-cloth,  and  placed  on  the  table 


Catherine  the  Great  285 

a  bowl  of  buttermilk,  and  another  with  poached  eggs.  They 
set  down  also  a  dish  of  hot  pancakes,  soft-boiled  eggs,  and  in 
the  middle  a  good  bacon  ham.  They  brought  brown  bread, 
and  set  down  to  everyone  a  can  of  sweet  milk,  and  by  way 
of  dessert  presented  fresh  cucumbers  and  cranberries  with 
honey. 

The  landlord  pressed  them  to  eat.  The  travellers,  who 
were  hungry,  found  everything  excellent,  and  during  supper 
talked  with  the  landlord  and  landlady,  who  told  them  how 
healthily,  happily  and  quietly  they  lived,  and  in  all  abund- 
ance suitable  to  their  condition,  passing  their  time  in  country 
work,  and  overcoming  every  want  and  diflSculty  by  industry. 
After  supper  they  spread  on  the  same  bench  mats,  and 
Razstidok  and  Khlor  put  their  cloaks  on  the  mats.  The 
landlady  gave  to  each  a  pillow  with  a  clean  pillow-slip;  so 
they  lay  down,  and  being  tired  they  soon  fell  asleep. 

In  the  morning  they  got  up  at  daybreak,  and  having 
thanked  their  landlord,  who  would  have  nothing  for  their 
lodging,  they  pursued  their  journey.  Having  got  about 
half  a  mile,  they  heard  the  sound  of  the  bagpipe.  Khlor 
wanted  to  go  nearer,  but  Razsudok  hinted  that  the  bagpipe 
would  lead  them  out  of  their  way.  Curiosity  got  the  better 
of  Khlor,  and  he  went  up  to  the  bagpipe,  but  when  he  saw 
the  mad  pranks  of  disfigured  drunkards  staggering  about  the 
piper,  he  was  terrified,  and  threw  himself  into  the  arms  of 
Razstidok,  who  carried  him  back  to  the  road. 

Having  passed  through  a  grove,  they  saw  a  steep  hill. 
Razsddok  told  Khlor  that  the  rose  without  prickles  that 
stings  not  grew  there.  Khlor,  oppressed  with  the  heat  of 
the  sun,  grew  tired.  He  began  to  fret,  said  there  was  no 
end  to  that  road,  how  far  it  is,  and  asked  if  they  could  not 
find  a  nearer  way.  Razstidok  answered  that  he  was  carrying 
him  the  nearest  waj',  and  that  difficulties  are  only  to  be 
overcome  by  patience.  The  Tsar^vich  in  ill-humour  cried 
out,  ' '  Perhaps  I  shall  find  the  way  myself  ! ' '  waved  his  hand, 
doubled  his  pace,  and  separated  himself  from  his  guide. 

Razsudok  remained  behind  and  followed  slowly  in  silence. 
The  child  entered  a  market  town  where  there  were  few  who 


286  The  Eighteenth  Century 

took  notice  of  him,  for  it  was  a  market-day,  and  everybody 
was  engaged  in  business  in  the  market-place.  The  Tsarevich, 
wandering  among  carts  and  traders,  began  to  cry.  One  per- 
son who  did  not  know  him  passed  by,  and  seeing  him  crying 
said  to  him:  "  Have  done  crying,  you  little  whelp;  without 
you  we  have  noise  enough  here."  At  that  very  moment 
Razslidok  had  overtaken  him.  The  Tsarevich  complained 
that  they  had  called  him  whelp.  Razsudok  said  not  a  word, 
but  conducted  him  out  of  the  crowd.  When  Khlor  asked 
him  why  he  did  not  talk  with  him  as  formerly,  Razslidok 
answered:  "  You  did  not  ask  my  advice,  but  went  to  an  im- 
proper place,  and  so  don't  be  offended  if  you  did  not  find  the 
people  to  your  mind."  Razsudok  wished  to  prolong  his 
speech  when  they  met  a  man,  not  overyoung,  but  of  an 
agreeable  appearance,  surrounded  with  a  great  many  boys. 
As  Khlor  was  curious  to  know  everything,  he  called  one  of 
the  boys,  and  asked  who  the  man  was.  "  This  man  is  our 
master,"  said  the  boy;  "we  have  got  our  lesson  and  are 
going  to  take  a  walk, — but  pray  where  are  you  going  ?  " 
The  Tsarevich  told  him  that  they  were  seeking  the  rose 
without  prickles  that  stings  not.  "  I  have  heard,"  said  the 
boy,  "  from  our  master  an  explanation  of  the  rose  without 
prickles  that  stings  not.  This  flower  signifies  nothing  more 
than  virtue.  Some  people  think  to  find  it  by  going  byways, 
but  nobody  can  get  it  unless  he  follows  the  straight  road; 
and  happy  is  he  that  by  an  hoaest  firmness  can  overcome  all 
the  diflSculties  of  that  road.  You  see  before  you  that  hill  on 
which  grows  the  rose  without  prickles  that  stings  not;  but 
the  road  is  steep  and  full  of  rocks."  Having  said  this,  he 
took  his  leave  and  went  after  his  master. 

Khlor  and  his  guide  went  straight  to  the  hill,  and  found  a 
narrow  and  rocky  track  on  which  they  walked  with  diflfi- 
culty.  They  there  met  an  old  man  and  woman  in  white, 
both  of  a  respectable  appearance,  who  stretched  out  their 
staffs  to  them  and  said:  "  Support  yourselves  on  our  staffs 
and  you  will  not  stumble."  The  people  thereabouts  told 
them  that  the  name  of  the  first  was  Honesty,  and  of  the 
other  Truth. 


Mikhaylo  Mikhaylovich  Shcherbatov  287 

Having  got  to  the  foot  of  the  hill,  leaning  on  the  staffs, 
they  were  obliged  to  scramble  from  the  track  by  the  branches, 
and  so  from  branch  to  branch  they  got  at  length  to  the  top 
of  the  hill,  where  they  found  the  rose  without  prickles  that 
stings  not.  He  made  haste  to  the  Khan  with  the  flower, 
and  the  Khan  dismissed  him  to  the  Tsar,  The  Tsar  was  so 
well  pleased  with  the  arrival  of  the  Tsarevich  and  his  success 
that  he  forgot  all  his  anxiety  and  grief.  The  Tsar,  the 
Tsaritsa  and  all  the  people  became  daily  more  fond  of  the 
Tsarevich,  because  he  daily  advanced  in  virtue.  Here 
the  tale  ends,  and  who  knows  better,  let  him  tell  another. 

Prince  Mikhdylo  Mikhdylovich  Shcherbatov. 
(1733-1790.) 

Prince  Shcherbdtov  derived  his  origin  from  St.  Vladimir,  and  united 
in  his  person  a  love  of  the  ancient  order  of  things  and  the  preroga- 
tives of  the  nobility  with  a  refined  liberalism,  the  result  of  an  educa- 
tion according  to  Western  ideas.  In  the  sixties,  Catherine  II.  entrusted 
Prince  Shcherbdtov  with  the  arrangement  of  the  archives  of  Peter  the 
Great,  and  the  result  of  his  labours  in  this  direction  was  the  publica- 
tion of  a  number  of  chronicles  and  documents  referring  to  various 
periods  of  Russian  history.  Then  he  wrote  a  History  of  Russia  from 
the  most  ancient  times  to  the  election  of  Mikhail  Fe6dorovich,  in 
seven  volumes.  Though  not  distinguished  for  elegance  of  style,  it 
deserves  especial  mention  as  the  first  native  history  in  which  not 
only  native  sources  were  thoroughly  ransacked,  but  the  facts  were 
properly  co-ordinated  in  a  philosophical  system.  His  sympathies  for 
the  old  regime  led  him  to  emphasise  the  dark  side  of  the  period 
following  the  reform  of  Peter  the  Great,  and  he  elaborated  his  theory 
in  a  work  On  the  Corruption  of  Manners  in  Russia,  which  was  so  bold 
in  laying  bare  the  immorality  of  the  Court  at  his  time  that  he  did  not 
dare  to  publish  it.  It  first  saw  the  light  in  London  in  1858,  where  it 
was  issued  by  Herzen.  In  another  work,  Journey  to  the  Land  of 
Ophir,  by  Mr.  S.,  a  Swedish  Nobleman,  he  developed  his  ideas  of 
what  a  monarchy  ought  to  be,  in  the  manner  of  Sir  Thomas  More's 
Utopia.    This  work  was  first  published  a  few  years  ago. 

ON  THE  CORRUPTION  OF  MANNERS  IN  RUSSIA 

Ancient  families  were  no  longer  respected,  but  "chins" 
and  deserts  and  long  service.     Everybody  was  anxious  to 


288  The  Eighteenth  Century 

get  some  "  chin,"  and  as  it  is  not  given  to  everybody  to  dis- 
tinguish himself  through  some  meritorious  act,  many  tried 
through  flattery  and  subserviency  to  the  Emperor  and  the 
dignitaries  to  gain  that  which  merit  gave  to  others.  By  the 
regulations  of  the  military  service,  which  Peter  the  Great 
had  newly  introduced,  the  peasants  began  with  their  masters 
at  the  same  stage  as  soldiers  of  the  rank  and  file :  it  was  not 
uncommon  for  the  peasants,  by  the  law  of  seniority,  to  reach 
the  grade  of  oflScer  long  before  their  masters,  whom,  as  their 
inferiors,  they  frequently  beat  with  sticks.  Noble  families 
were  so  scattered  in  the  service  that  often  one  did  not  come 
again  in  contact  with  his  relatives  during  his  whole  lifetime. 

How  could  there  remain  any  manliness  and  firmness  in 
those  who  in  their  youth  trembled  before  the  rod  of  their 
superiors ;  who  could  not  obtain  any  honours  except  by  ser- 
vility ;  and  who,  being  left  without  the  active  support  of  their 
relatives,  without  union  and  protection,  were  left  alone,  at 
any  time  liable  to  fall  into  the  hands  of  the  mighty  ? 

I  must  praise  Peter  the  Great  for  his  attempts  to  eradicate 
superstition  in  the  observances  of  the  divine  Law,  for  indeed 
superstition  is  not  a  worship  of  God  and  the  Law,  but  rather 
a  desecration;  to  ascribe  to  God  improper  acts  is  nothing 
but  blasphemy. 

In  Russia  they  regarded  the  beard  as  a  physical  attribute 
of  God,  for  which  reason  they  thought  it  a  sin  to  shave  it 
off",  thus  falling  into  the  heresy  of  anthropomorphism.  They 
proclaimed  everj'where  miracles,  needlessly  performed,  and 
holy  images,  whose  properties  were  rarely  attested ;  they  en- 
couraged superstitious  worship,  and  increased  the  revenues 
of  corrupt  servants  of  the  Lord.  All  that  Peter  the  Great 
endeavoured  to  abolish:  he  promulgated  ukases  for  the 
shaving  off  of  beards,  and  by  means  of  the  Spiritual  Regie- 
merit  put  a  stop  to  false  miracles  and  visions,  as  well  as  im- 
proper gatherings  near  the  holy  images  on  the  crossroads. 
Being  convinced  that  the  divine  Law  demands  the  preserva- 
tion of  the  human  race,  and  not  its  uncalled-for  destruction, 
he  by  a  decision  of  the  Synod  and  all  the  Patriarchs  granted 
a  dispensation  to  eat  meat  during  the  fast,  in  case  of  neces- 


Mikh^ylo  Mikh4ylovich  Shcherb^tov  289 

sity,  particularly  in  the  service  on  the  seas,  where  people  are 
subject  to  scurvy;  he  ordered  that  those  who,  by  such  abstin- 
ence, of  their  own  free  will  sacrificed  their  lives  and  became 
subject  to  diseases  resulting  therefrom,  should  be  cast  into 
the  water.  All  that  is  very  good,  only  the  latter  thing  is  a 
little  too  severe. 

But  when  did  he  enact  that  ?  When  the  people  were  not 
yet  enlightened,  and  by  thus  abating  the  superstition  of  the 
unenlightened,  he  at  the  same  time  deprived  them  of  their 
faith  in  the  divine  I^aw.  This  act  of  Peter  the  Great  is  to  be 
likened  to  the  act  of  the  unskilled  gardener  who  lops  the 
watery  branches  of  a  weak  tree,  that  absorb  its  sap.  If  the 
tree  were  well  rooted,  this  lopping  would  cause  it  to  bring 
forth  good  and  fruitful  branches;  but,  being  weak  and  sickly, 
the  cutting  off  of  the  branches  that  imbibed  the  external 
moisture  through  its  leaves  and  fed  the  weak  tree  causes  no 
healthy  and  abundant  growth  of  new  branches,  nor  does  the 
wound  heal  up,  but  there  are  formed  cavities  that  threaten 
the  destruction  of  the  tree.  Similarly  the  lopping  off"  of  the 
superstitions  has  been  injurious  to  the  fundamental  parts  of 
faith  itself:  superstition  has  decreased,  but  so  has  also  faith ; 
there  has  disappeared  the  slavish  terror  of  hell,  but  also  the 
love  of  God  and  His  divine  Law;  and  the  manners  that  were 
formerly  corrected  by  faith  have  lost  this  corrective  and, 
lacking  any  other  enlightenment,  soon  began  to  be  cor- 
rupted. 

With  all  the  reverence  that  I  have  in  my  heart  for  this 
great  monarch  and  great  man,  with  all  my  conviction  that 
the  weal  of  the  Empire  demanded  that  he  should  have  other 
legitimate  children  than  Alexis  Petrovich  as  heirs  of  his 
throne, — I  cannot  but  censure  his  divorce  from  his  first  wife, 
n^e  lyopukhin,  and  his  second  marriage  to  the  captive 
Catherine  Aleksyeevna,  after  his  first  wife  had  been  sent  to 
a  monastery.  This  example  of  the  debasement  of  the  sacred 
mystery  of  marriage  has  shown  that  these  bonds  may  be 
broken  without  fear  of  punishment.  Granted  that  the 
monarch  had  suflScient  cause  for  his  action,  though  I  do  no 
see  it,  except  her  leaning  for  the  Mouses,  and  opposition  to 

VOL.  I.— 19. 


290  The  Eighteenth  Century 

his  new  regulations;  but  what  reasons  of  State  led  his  imi- 
tators to  do  likewise  ?  Did  Paul  Ivdnovich  Eguzinski,  who 
sent  his  first  wife  into  a  monastery  and  married  another, 
nie  Gal6vkin,  have  any  reasons  of  State  for  getting  heirs 
by  breaking  the  divine  Laws  ?  Not  only  many  high  digni- 
taries, but  those  of  lower  ranks,  like  Prince  Boris  S6ntsev- 
Zasy^kin,  have  also  imitated  him. 

Although  Russia,  through  the  labours  and  care  of  this 
Emperor,  has  become  known  to  Europe  and  has  now  weight 
in  affairs,  and  her  armies  are  properly  organised,  and  her 
fleets  have  covered  the  White  and  Baltic  seas,  so  that  she 
has  been  able  to  conquer  her  old  enemies  and  former  victors, 
the  Poles  and  Swedes,  and  has  gained  fine  districts  and  good 
harbours;  although  the  sciences,  arts  and  industries  began 
to  flourish  in  Russia,  and  commerce  to  enrich  her,  and  the 
Russians  were  transformed  from  bearded  men  into  clean- 
shaven ones,  and  exchanged  their  long  cloaks  for  short  coats, 
and  became  more  sociable  and  accustomed  to  refinement; 
yet  at  the  same  time  the  true  attachment  to  the  faith  began 
to  disappear,  the  mysteries  fell  into  disrepute,  firmness  was 
weakened  and  gave  way  to  impudent,  insinuating  flattery; 
luxury  and  voluptuousness  laid  the  foundation  for  their 
domination,  and  with  it  selfishness  began  to  penetrate  the 
high  judicial  places,  to  the  destruction  of  the  laws  and  the 
detriment  of  the  citizens.  Such  is  the  condition  of  morals  in 
which  Russia  was  left  after  the  death  of  the  great  Emperor, 
in  spite  of  all  his  attempts,  in  his  own  person  and  through 
his  example,  to  ward  off  the  encroachment  of  vice. 

Now  let  us  see  what  progress  vice  has  made  during  the 
reign  of  Catherine  I.  and  Peter  II.,  and  how  it  has  estab- 
lished itself  in  Russia. 

The  feminine  sex  is  generally  more  prone  to  luxury  than 
the  male,  and  so  we  see  the  Empress  Catherine  I.  having 
her  own  court  even  during  the  life  of  her  husband,  Peter  the 
Great.  Her  chamberlain  was  Mons,  whose  unbounded  lux- 
ury was  his  first  quality  that  brought  him  to  a  shameful 
death;  her  pages  were  Peter  and  Jacob  Fedorovich  Balk6v, 
his  nephews,  who  during  his  misfortune  were  driven  from 


Mikhaylo  Mikh4ylovich  Shcherb^tov  291 

the  Court.  She  was  exceedingly  fond  of  ornaments,  and 
carried  her  vanity  to  such  an  excess  that  other  women  were 
not  permitted  to  wear  similar  ornaments,  as,  for  example,  to 
wear  diamonds  on  both  sides  of  the  head,  but  only  on  the 
left  side;  no  one  was  allowed  to  wear  ermine  furs  with  the 
tails,  which  she  wore,  and  this  custom,  which  was  confirmed 
by  no  ukase  or  statute,  became  almost  a  law;  this  adornment 
was  appropriated  to  the  Imperial  family,  though  in  Germany 
it  is  also  worn  by  the  wives  of  burghers.  Does  not  this 
vanity  seem  to  indicate  that  when  her  age  began  to  impair 
her  beauty,  she  was  trying  to  enhance  it  by  distinctive 
adornments  ?  I  do  not  know  whether  this  opinion  was  just, 
and  whether  it  was  proper  for  the  Emperor  to  appear  every 
hour  of  the  day  before  his  subjects  in  a  masquerade  dress,  as 
if  he  lacked  other  distinguishing  adornments. 

Vasili  Petrdvich  Petr6v.     (1736- 1799.) 

Petr6v  was  the  son  of  a  poor  clergyman .  He  studied  in  the  Theo- 
logical Academy  at  Moscow,  where  he  was  made  a  teacher  in  1760. 
Through  Pot^mkin,  his  friend,  he  was  presented  to  the  Empress,  who, 
in  1768,  appointed  him  her  private  translator  and  reader.  In  1772  he 
was  sent  to  England,  where  he  soon  acquired  the  language.  In  I^on- 
don  he  translated  Milton's  Paradise  Lost  and  made  a  careful  study  of 
Addison,  especially  of  his  Cato.  Petr6v  wrote  a  large  number  of 
adulatory  odes,  now  long  forgotten ;  he  showed  more  talent  in  his 
satires,  which  he  wrote  in  England,  and  in  which  the  influence  of  the 
English  writers  whom  he  studied  may  be  perceived.  The  following 
ode,  probably  his  best,  is  from  Sir  John  Bowling's  Specimens  of  the 
Russian  Poets,  Part  II. 

ON  THE  VICTORY  OF  THE  RUSSIAN  OVER  THE 
TURKISH  FI.EET' 

O  triumph !     O  delight !     O  time  so  rich  in  fame 
Unclouded,  bright  and  pure  as  the  sun's  midday  flame! 
Ruthenia's  strength  goes  forth — see  from  the  sea  emerge 
The  Typhous  of  the  north ! — The  lightning,  in  its  might, 

Flashes  in  dazzling  light, — 

And  subject  is  the  surge. 

*  At  Chesma,  where,  on  July  26, 1 770,  the  Turkish  fleet  was  destroyed. 


292  The  Eighteenth  Century 

They  wander  o'er  the  waves, — their  eye  impatiently 

Seeks  where  the  Moslem's  flag  flaunts  proudly  o'er  the  sea: — 

"  'T  is  there!     'T  is  there!  "  exclaim  the  brave,  impatient 

crowd, — 
The  sails  unfurled, —  each  soul  with   rage    and    courage 
bums, — 

Each  to  the  combat  turns: 
They  meet, —  it  thunders  loud! 

I  see  from  i^tna's  rocks  a  floating  army  throng: 
A  hero,'  yet  unsung,  wafts  the  proud  choir  along, — 
The  masts,  a  fir-tree  wood, — the  sails,  like  outspread  wings. 
I^ist  to  the  shoutings !    See  the  flash !    They  thunder  near. 

Earthquakes  and  night  are  there, — 

With  storm  the  welkin  rings. 

There  January  speeds, — there  Svyatosldv  moves  on. 
And  waves  and  smoke  alike  are  in  the  tempest  thrown ; 
And  there  the  ship  that  bears  the  three-times  hallowed* 

name, 
And  Rostisldv  and  Europe,  there  triumphant  ride; 

While  the  agitated  tide 

Is  startled  with  the  flame. 

Evstdf,  in  fire  concealed,  scatters  the  deathlike  brand. 
And  earth  and  heaven  are  moved,  and  tremble  sea  and  land; 
And  there,  a  mountain  pile,  sends  round  the  deeds  of  death. 
As  if  Vesuvius'  self  in  combat  were  engaged, — 

While  other  mountains  raged. 

And  poured  their  flaming  breath. 

The  roar,  the  whiz,  the  hum,  in  one  commingling  sound, 
The  clouds  of  smoke  that  rise,  and  spread  and  roll  around; 
The  waves  attack  the  sky  in  wild  and  frenzied  dance ; 
The  sails  are  white  as  snow ;  and  now  the  sun  looks  on, 

Now  shrouds  him  on  his  throne, 

And  the  swift  lightnings  glance. 

'  Count  Orl6v,  commander  of  the  fleet. 
•Ship  named  The  Three  Saints. 


Vasili  Petr6vich  Petr6v  293 

Hard  proof  of  valour  this, — the  spirit's  fiery  test: 

Fierce  combat,  grown  more  fierce, — bear  high  the  burning 

breast ! 
See  on  the  waves  there  ride  two  mountains,  fiery-bound, 
JStua  and  Hecla,  loose  on  ocean's  heaving  bed, — 

The  burning  torches  spread. 

And  ruin  stalks  around. 

Ocean,  and  shore,  and  air,  rush  backward  at  the  sight. 
The  Greek  and  Turk  stand  still,  and  groan  in  wild  aflFright; 
Calm  as  a  rock  the  Russ  is  welcoming  death  with  death; 
But  ah !  destruction  now  blazes  its  fiery  links, 

And  even  victory  sinks 

Its  heavy  weight  beneath. 

O  frightful  tragedy !     A  furnace  is  the  sea, — 
The  triumph  ours, —  the  flames  have  reached  the  enemy: 
He  burns,  he  dies  in  smoke,  beneath  the  struggle  rude 
The  Northern  heroes  sink,  with  weariness  oppressed, 

And  ask  a  moment's  rest. 

As  if  they  were  subdued. 

And  whence  that  threatening  cloud  that  hangs  upon  their 

head? 
That  threatens  now  to  burst  ?    What  ?    Is  their  leader  dead  ? 
And  is  he  borne  away,  who  all  our  bosoms  warmed  ? 
He  fell, — there  lies  his  sword, — there  lie  his  shield  and  helm. 

What  sorrows  overwhelm 

The  conqueror  disarmed ! 

Oh,  no!     He  wakes  again  from  night, — he  waves  his  hand. 
Beckoning  to  the  brave  ranks  that  mourning  round  him 

stand : 
"  My  brother!  "  cried  he — "  Heaven!    And  is  my  brother 

gone? 
Their  sails  unfurl !   My  friends,  oh,  see !  oh,  see !  They  fly, — 
On, — '  Death  or  vengeance! '  cry, 
On,  on  to  Stamboul's  throne!  " 


294  The  Eighteenth  Century- 

He  fled.     Ohero!    Peace!    There  is  no  cause  for  grief, — 
He  lives, — th}'  brother  lives,  and  Spirid6v,  his  chief! 
No  dolphin  saved  them  there, — it  was  the  Almighty  God, 
The  God  who  sees  thy  deed,  thy  valour  who  approves, 

And  tries  the  men  He  loves 

With  His  afflictive  rod. 

The  dreadful  dream  is  passed, —  passed  like  a  mist  away, 
And  dawns,  serene  and  bright,  a  cloudless  victory  day: 
The  trump  of  shadeless  joy, —  the  trump  of  triumph  speaks; 
The  hero  and  his  friend  are  met,  and  fled  their  fears; 

They  kiss  each  other's  cheeks, 

They  water  them  with  tears. 

They  cried,  "And  is  our  fame,  and  is  our  glory  stained  ? 
God  is  our  shield, —  revenge  and  victory  shall  be  gained! 
We  live, — and  Mahmud's  might  a  hundred  times  shall  fall; 
We  live, —  the  astonished  world  our  hero-deeds  shall  see. 

And  every  victory 

A  burning  fleet  recall." 

Whence  this  unusual  glare  o'er  midnight's  ocean  spread  ? 
At  what  unwonted  hour  has  Phcebus  left  his  bed  ? 
No,  they  are  Russian  crowds  who  struggle  with  the  foe, 
'T  is  their  accordant  torch  that  flashes  through  the  night. 

Sequana,  see  the  might 

Of  Stamboul  sink  below ! 

The  harbour  teems  with  life,  an  amphitheatre 
Of  sulphurous  pitch  and  smoke,  and  awful  noises  there. 
The  fiends  of  hell  are  loose,  the  sea  has  oped  its  caves, 
Fate  rides  upon  the  deep,  and  laughs  amidst  the  fraj'. 

Which  feeds  with  human  prey 

The  monsters  of  the  waves. 

See,  like  a  furnace  boils  and  steams  the  burning  flood, 
'T  is  filled  with  mortal  flesh,  't  is  red  with  mortal  blood; 


Vasili  Petr6vich  Petr6v  295 

Devoured  by  raging  flames,  drunk  by  the  thirsty  wave, 
The  clouds  seem  palpable, —  a  thick  and  solid  mass, — 

They  sink  like  stone  or  brass 

Into  their  water-grave. 

Thou  ruler  of  the  tomb !     Dread  hour  of  suffering, 
When  all  the  elements, —  drop,  Muse,  thy  feeble  wing!  — 
Hell,  with  its  fiends,  and  all  the  fiends  that  man  e'er  drew 
There  mingled, — Silence,  veil  that  awful  memory  o'er! 

I  see  the  hero  pour 

The  tears  of  pity  too! 

O  Peter!    Great  in  song,  as  great  in  glory  once, 

Look  from  thy  throne  sublime  upon  thy  Russia's  sons! 

See,  how  thy  fleets  have  won  the  palm  of  victory. 

And  hear  the  triumph  sound,  even  to  the  gate  of  heaven,— 

The  Turkish  strength  is  riven 

Even  in  the  Turkish  sea. 

Thee  Copenhagen  saw,  the  Neptune  of  the  Belt; 
Now  Chesma's  humbled  sons  before  thy  flag  have  knelt. 
The  helpless  Greeks  have  fled, — thy  banner  sees  their  shore, 
Trembling  they  look  around,  while  thy  dread  thunder  swells. 

And  shakes  the  Dardanelles, 

And  Smyrna  hears  its  roar. 

Ye  Frenchmen ! '     Fear  ye  not  the  now  advancing  flame, 
Recording,  as  it  flies,  your  own,  your  country's  shame  ? 
In  the  dark  days  of  old,  your  valiant  fathers  trod 
In  the  brave  steps  of  Rome,  towards  lands  of  Southern  glow; 

Ye  fight  with  Russians  now, 

Beneath  the  Moslems'  rod. 

Where  innocence  is  found,  there,  there  protection  wakes; 
Where  Catherine's  voice  is  heard, —  there  truth,  there  justice 
speaks: 
'  An  agent  of  the  French  Government  had  fortified  the  Dardanelles. 


29^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

A  ruler's  virtues  are  the  strength  and  pride  of  states, 

And  surely  ours  shall  bloom  where  Catherine's  virtues  stand. 

O  enviable  land ! 

Glory  is  at  our  gates. 

Soar,  eagle,  soar  again,  spring  upward  to  the  flight ! 
For  yet  the  Turkish  flag  is  flaunting  in  the  light: 
In  Chesma's  port  it  still  erects  its  insolent  head, 
And  thou  must  pour  again  thy  foes'  blood  o'er  the  sea, 

And  crush  their  treachery. 

And  wide  destruction  spread ! 

But  fame  now  summons  thee  from  death  to  life  again. 
The  people's  comfort  now,  their  glory  to  maintain; 
The  hero's  palm  is  won. — Now  turn  thee  and  enhance 
The  hero's  triumphs  with  the  patriot's  milder  fame. 

O  Romans!     Without  shame 

On  D nil's  spoils  we  glance. 

We  *11  consecrate  to  thee  a  towering  marble  dome! 
From  yonder  Southern  sea,  oh,  bring  thy  trophies  home, 
Bring  Scio's  trophies  home, — those  trophies  still  shall  be 
Thy  glory,  Orl6v !     Thine  the  records  of  thy  deeds, 

When  future  valour  reads 

Astrea's  victory! 

Oh,  could  my  wakened  Muse  a  worthy  offering  bring! 
Oh,  could  my  grateful  lyre  a  song  of  glory  sing! 
Oh,  could  I  steal  from  thee  the  high  and  towering  thought. 
With  thy  proud  name  the  world,  the  listening  world  I  'd  fill! 

And  Camoens'  harp  be  still. 

And  Gama  be  forgot! 

Thine  was  a  nobler  far  than  Jason's  enterprise, 
Whose  name  shines  like  a  star  in  history's  glorious  skies: 
He  bore  in  triumph  home  the  rich,  the  golden  fleece; 
But  with  thy  valour  thou,  and  with  thy  conquering  band, 

Hast  saved  thy  fatherland. 

And  given  to  Hellas  peace. 


Vasili  Petr6vich  Petr6v  297 

But  oh !     My  tongue  is  weak  to  celebrate  thy  glory, 
Thy  valiant  deeds  shall  live  in  everlasting  story, 
For  public  gratitude  thy  name  will  e'er  enshrine, — 
Who  loves  his  country,  who  his  Empress  loves,  will  throw 

His  garland  on  thy  brow, 

And  watch  that  fame  of  thine. 

But  when  thou  humbledst  low  the  Moslem's  pride  and  scorn, 
And  bad'st  her  crescent  sink,  her  vain  and  feeble  horn. 
And  pass'dst  the  Belt  again,  with  songs  and  hymns  of  joy, 
Who  that  perceived  thy  flag,  in  all  its  mightiness, — 

What  Russian  could  repress 

The  tears  that  dimmed  his  eye  ? 

I  see  the  people  rush  to  welcome  thee  again. 

Thy  ships,  with  trophies  deep,  upon  the  swelling  main; 

I  see  the  maidens  haste,  the  aged  and  the  young; 

The  children  wave  their  hands,  and  to  their  father  turn, 

And  thousand  questions  burn 

On  their  inquiring  tongue. 

"  Is  this  the  eagle  proud  of  whom  we  have  been  told. 
Who  led  against  the  Turks  the  Russian  heroes  bold. 
And  with  their  warriors'  blood  the  azure  ocean  dyed  ? 
Is  this  our  Orlov, — this  with  eagle's  heart  and  name, 

His  foe's  reproach  and  shame, 

And  Russia's  strength  and  pride  ?  " 

Oh,  yes!    Oh,  yes,  't  is  he!    The  eagle  there  appears, 
And  ocean  bears  him  on,  as  proud  of  him  she  bears: 
And  see  his  brother  too,  who  led  to  victory,  there — 
And  Spirfdov,  whose  praise  all  ages  shall  renew, 

And  Greyg  and  Ilin  too, — 

The  heroes,  without  fear. 

But  wherefore  do  I  rest, —  what  fancies  led  me  on  ? 
The  glorious  eagle  now  to  Asia's  coast  is  flown, 


298  The  Eighteenth  Century 

O'er  streams,  and  hills,  and  vales,  he  takes  his  course  sub- 
lime. 
My  eye  in  vain  pursues  his  all-subduing  flight. 

O  vision  of  delight! 

O  victory-girded  time ! 

And  heaven,  and  earth,  and  sea  have  seen  our  victories  won, 
And  echo  with  the  deeds  that  Catherine  has  done ; 
The  Baltic  coasts  in  vain  oppose  the  march  of  Paul, 
Not  the  vast  North  alone,  but  all  th'  ^gean  Sea 

Shall  own  his  sovereignty, 

And  the  whole  earthly  ball ! 

Mikhail  Matvy6evich  Kherdskov.    (1733-1807.) 

The  son  of  a  Wallachian  emigrant,  Kherdskov  served  in  succession 
in  the  army,  the  Kommerz-KoUeg  (Ministry  of  Finances)  and  the 
Moscow  University,  where  he  was  first  Director  and  later  Cnrator. 
He  began  to  write  early,  and  for  half  a  century  produced  a  very  large 
number  of  poems  in  every  imaginable  field  of  the  pseudo-classic 
school.  They  now  appall  us  with  their  inane  voluminousness,  but  in 
his  day  he  was  regarded  as  a  great  poet,  a  veritable  Russian  Homer. 
His  best  heroic  epics  are  his  Rossiad  and  Vladimir  Regenerated. 
The  first,  containing  some  ten  thousand  verses,  celebrates  the  con- 
quest of  Kazdn  by  Ivdn  the  Terrible ;  the  second,  of  even  more  im- 
posing length,  tells  of  the  introduction  of  Christianity  into  Russia. 
Though  containing  some  fine  passages,  these  epics  reveal  too  much 
the  influence  of  Vergil  and  Tasso,  and  make  rather  dreary  reading. 

FROM  THE    "ROSSIAD" 

I  sing  Russia  delivered  from  the  barbarians,  the  trampled 
power  of  the  Tartars,  and  their  pride  subdued,  the  stir  of 
ancient  mights,  their  labours,  bloody  strife,  Russia's  victory, 
Kazdn  destroyed !  How  from  the  circle  of  those  times,  the 
beginning  of  peaceful  years,  a  bright  dawn  has  shone  forth 
in  Russia! 

Oh,  thou  gleamest  above  the  radiant  stars,  spirit  of  poetry! 
Come  from  thy  heights,  and  shed  over  my  weak  and  dim 
creation  thy  light,  thy  art  and  illumination!  Open,  O 
eternity,  to  me  the  gates  of  those  habitations  where  all 


Mikhail  Matvydevich  Kher^kov      299 

earthly  care  is  cast  away,  where  the  souls  of  the  righteous 
receive  their  rewards,  where  fame  and  crowns  are  deemed  a 
vanity,  where  before  the  star-sprinkled  altar  the  lowest 
slave  stands  in  a  row  with  a  king,  where  the  poor  man  for- 
gets his  misery,  the  unfortunate  his  grief,  where  every  man 
will  be  equal  to  every  other.  Eternity,  reveal  thyself  to  me, 
that  with  my  lyre  I  may  attract  the  attention  of  the  nations 
and  their  kings! 

In  the  grottoes  within  the  Caucasian  icy  mountains,  which 
the  bold  glance  of  mortal  has  never  spied,  where  the  frost 
creates  an  eternal  translucent  vault  and  dulls  the  fall  of  the 
sun's  rays,  where  lightning  is  dead,  where  thunder  is  fet- 
tered, there  stands,  cut  into  ice,  a  mighty  mansion.  There 
are  the  storms,  there  are  the  cold,  blizzards,  tempests ;  there 
Winter  reigns,  devouring  years.  This  austere  sister  of  other 
days,  though  hoary,  is  swift  and  agile.  Rival  of  Spring, 
Autumn  and  Summer,  she  is  clad  in  the  purple  woven  of 
snow;  stark-frozen  steam  serves  her  as  veil.  Her  throne 
has  the  form  of  a  diamond  mountain.  Great  pillars,  of  ice 
constructed,  cast  a  silvery  sheen,  illumined  by  the  sun;  over 
the  heavenly  vault  glides  the  solar  splendour,  and  then  it 
seems  a  mass  of  ice  is  on  fire. 

The  elements  have  no  motion :  the  air  dares  not  move,  nor 
the  fire  glow.  There  are  no  coloured  fields;  among  the 
fields  of  ice  gleam  only  frozen  flowery  vapours;  the  waters  in 
the  heavens,  melted  by  the  rays,  hang,  petrified,  in  wavy 
layers;  there  in  the  air  you  may  discern  the  words  of 
prophecy,  but  all  is  stark,  and  nature  dead.  Only  tremor, 
chill  and  frost  have  life;  hoar  frosts  move  about,  while 
zephyrs  grow  dumb;  snowstorms  whirl  about  in  flight, 
frosts  reign  in  the  place  of  summer  luxury.  There  the  ice 
represents  the  ruins  of  cities,  one  look  at  which  congeals 
your  blood.  Pressed  by  the  frosts,  the  snows  there  form 
silvery  mounds  and  fields  of  diamonds.  From  there  Winter 
spreads  her  dominion  over  us,  devouring  the  grass  in  the 
fields,  the  flowers  in  the  vales,  and  sucking  up  the  living 
sap  of  trees,  and  on  cold  pinions  bears  frosts  to  us,  driving 


300  The  Eighteenth  Century 

day  away,  prolonging  gloomy  uigbts,  and  compelling  the 
sun  to  turn  aside  his  beaming  eyes:  with  trembling,  forests 
and  rivers  await  her,  and  chills  weave  her  shrouds  from  the 
white  billows. 

Plat6n  (in  civil  life  Peter  Ge6rgevich)  Levsbin. 
(1737-1812.) 

What  Feofdn  Prokop6vich  had  been  to  the  reign  of  Peter  the  Great, 
Plat6n  was  to  Catherine  II.  After  having  studied  in  the  Moscow 
Theological  Academy,  where  he  became  a  teacher  even  before  ending 
his  course,  he  took  the  tonsure  at  twenty-two  ;  at  twenty-five  he  was 
made  rector  of  the  Seminary.  In  the  same  year  he  attracted  Cather- 
ine's attention  by  an  eloquent  speech  On  the  Usefulness  of  Piety,  and 
he  was  at  once  called  to  St.  Petersburg  to  be  her  son's  spiritual 
teacher  (see  p.  326).  Plat6n  rose  rapidly,  and  in  1787  he  was  made 
metropolitan  of  Moscow.  His  liberal  and  enlightened  views  on 
theology  were  valued  not  only  at  home,  but  his  Brief  Theology, 
originally  published  in  1755,  has  been  translated  into  most  European 
languages,  and  three  times  into  English.  A  Russian  source  informs 
us  that  his  book  on  theology  was  made  a  text-book  at  Oxford  and 
Cambridge.  Several  Englishmen  who  had  visited  him,  and  Dr.  Stan- 
ley, spoke  in  the  highest  terms  of  this  Russian  divine. 

The  translation  of  his  Brief  Theology  in  English  bears  the  follow- 
ing titles :  The  Present  State  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Russia  ;  or,  A 
Summary  of  Christian  Divinity,  by  Platon,  Late  Metropolitan  of 
Moscow,  translated  from  the  Slavonian  ...  by  Robert  Pinkerton, 
Edinburgh,  1814,  and  New  York,  1815  ;  The  Orthodox  Doctrine  of  the 
Apostolic  Eastern  Church;  or,  A  Compendium  of  Christian  Theology, 
translated  from  the  Greek  ...  to  which  is  appended  a  Treatise 
on  Melchisedec,  London,  Manchester  [printed],  1857;  KarT)xv<^i^ — 
The  Great  Catechism  of  the  Holy  Catholic  Apostolic  and  Orthodox 
Church,  translated  from  the  Greek  by  J.  T.  S.,  London,  1867.  A  Ser- 
mon preached  by  order  of  Her  Imperial  Majesty,  on  the  Tomb  of 
Peter  the  Great,  in  the  Cathedral  Church  of  St.  Petersburg,  London, 
1770. 

WHAT  ARE  IDOLATERS? 

The  second  commandment  forbiddeth  idolatry,  and  every 
unlawful  mode  of  worshipping  God. 

At  one  time,  almost  all  nations  were  in  such  a  state  of 
error  (and  even  now  there  are  many  in  the  same  situation), 


Plat6n  Levshin  301 

that  they  worshipped  the  creatures  as  gods,  such  as  the  sun, 
the  moon,  fire,  also  the  lower  animals,  as  bulls,  cats,  croco- 
diles; and  some  even  worshipped  herbs,  such  as  onion  and 
garlic ;  and  to  all  these  they  offered  sacrifices,  and  paid  other 
divine  honours,  or  they  made  statues  in  the  likeness  of 
men  and  other  animals,  and  bowed  down  before  them  as  if 
they  were  divinities.  But  from  these  shocking  and  awful 
errors,  the  grace  of  Jesus  Christ  has  delivered  us  (i  Peter 
iv.  3)- 

Such  persons  also  resemble  those  idolaters  as  labour  for 
Mammon  and  their  belly;  that  is,  whose  thoughts  are  all 
taken  up  about  amassing  riches,  which  they  either  do  not 
make  use  of,  or  only  sacrifice  to  their  fleshly  lusts.  With 
such  people.  Mammon  and  the  belly  are  the  idols,  to  whom 
they  devote  all  their  services;  and  on  this  account  the  Holy 
Scriptures  call  the  love  of  riches,  idolatry  (Col.  iii.  5);  and 
those  also  idolaters  who  make  their  belly  their  God  (Phil, 
iii.  19). 

This  commandment  also  forbids  the  use  of  all  unlawful 
means  in  the  worship  of  God;  that  is,  when  anyone  thinks 
of  pleasing  God  by  that  which  is  not  acceptable  to  Him,  and 
which  is  not  commanded  in  His  Word.  Such,  for  instance, 
were  those  Israelites  who  presented  to  God  costly  sacrifices 
while  they  led  ungodly  lives.  And  therefore  God,  through 
His  prophet  Isaiah,  declared  sacrifices  presented  from  such 
hands  to  be  hateful  in  His  eyes;  that  is,  their  oblations  were 
vain,  their  incense  was  an  abomination  and  their  fatted 
calves  like  dogs  in  His  sight  (chap.  i.  11).  Those  persons 
consequently  transgress  against  this  commandment : 

I .  Who  offer  hypocritical  worship. — Who  utter  long  pray- 
ers, which  of  itself  is  pious,  but  suppose  that  they  shall  be 
heard  for  their  much  speaking,  though  at  the  same  time  they 
feel  no  contrition  of  spirit.  Of  a  similar  character,  also,  are 
those  hypocrites  who  on  every  occasion  show  themselves 
zealous  for  the  name  of  God,  zealous  for  the  faith,  the  glory 
and  the  interests  of  the  Church,  and  who  introduce  all  their 
speeches  with  spiritual  observations  (which  in  themselves 
are  praiseworthy),  but  who  with  all  this  have  nothing  in 


302  The  Eighteenth  Century 

view  but  the  indulgence  of  a  spirit  of  ostentation,  or  promot- 
ing their  own  interest  in  all  that  they  do,  and  whose  zeal 
consists  only  in  words  with  which  their  conduct  does  not  in 
the  least  agree. 

2.  Hypocritical  observances  of  the  fasts. — Who  fast,  that 
is,  abstain  from  certain  kind  of  food,  and  on  that  account 
hope  for  divine  acceptance,  though  at  the  same  time  they 
live  in  every  kind  of  iniquity.  By  them  the  real  fast,  which 
does  not  consist  merely  in  abstinence  from  food,  but  in  re- 
straining the  corrupt  passions,  is  evil  spoken  of.  Such, 
also,  are  those  who  adorn  the  churches,  or  cover  the  pictures 
of  the  saints  with  gold  and  silver,  yet  at  the  same  time 
oppress  the  innocent,  who  are  the  Church  of  the  living  God, 
or  leave  the  poor  without  food.  It  is  in  vain,  however,  for 
them  to  declare  that  they  have  done  all  that  they  should 
have  done  in  order  to  be  saved;  for,  according  to  the  words 
of  Christ  ' '  these  ought  they  to  have  done,  and  not  to  leave 
the  other  undone"  (Matt,  xxiii.  23). 

3.  The  superstitious. —  Who  invent  certain  miraculous 
kinds  of  appearances,  for  the  sake  of  filthy  lucre,  or  from 
some  sort  of  extravagant  ideas  about  the  salvation  of  their 
souls,  or  who  attach  an  unknown  kind  of  sanctity  to  some 
particular  places,  believing  that  God  will  hear  prayers 
sooner  in  one  place  than  in  another.  In  a  word,  all  those 
who  transgress  against  this  commandment,  who,  according 
to  the  testimony  of  Christ,  place  their  hope  of  salvation  in 
externals,  and  "omit  the  weightier  matters  of  law,  judg- 
ment, mercy  and  faith."  Therefore,  respecting  such  charac- 
ters, divine  truth  declares  "  This  people  draweth  nigh  unto 
me  with  their  mouth,  and  honoureth  me  with  their  lips;  but 
their  heart  is  far  from  me.  But  in  vain  they  do  worship  me, 
teaching  for  doctrines  the  commandments  of  men ' '  (Matt. 
XV.  8,  9). 

Reverencing  the  pictures  is  not  contrary  to  this  command- 
ment. 

We  do  not  act  contrary  to  this  commandment,  when,  ac- 
cording to  the  ancient  custom  of  Christians,  we  adorn  our 


Plat6n  Levshin  303 

temples  with  the  holy  pictures.  For,  in  the  first  place,  we 
do  not  attempt  to  draw  upon  the  canvas  a  representation  of 
the  unseen  and  incomprehensible  God,  whom  we  never  can 
represent ;  but  we  represent  our  Saviour  in  the  fashion  of  a 
man  which  He  took  upon  Himself, or  His  favourites.  Second- 
ly, the  pictures  are  made  and  placed  in  our  churches,  not  for 
deification,  but  to  commemorate  the  acts  of  God  and  of  His 
chosen  servants,  that  we,  in  beholding  them  (as,  for  in- 
stance, in  looking  on  the  picture  of  our  crucified  Saviour), 
may  stir  up  our  soul  to  piety  and  to  the  imitation  of  them  in 
many  acts  of  their  lives.  Thirdly,  the  obeisance  which  we 
make  before  the  pictures  we  do  not  render  to  the  pictures 
themselves,  that  is,  to  the  boards,  colours,  ornaments  or 
skill  of  the  artist,  but  we  render  this  to  the  person  whom 
they  represent,  and  to  the  pictures  only  an  affectionate 
salutation.  Thus,  for  example,  I  bow  before  the  picture  of 
my  Saviour,  but  the  devotion  of  my  spirit,  my  faith,  sup- 
plication and  hope,  and  the  obeisance  which  I  pay,  are  all 
rendered  to  my  Saviour  alone,  who  is  in  heaven,  and  every- 
where present,  and  the  picture  is  only  a  kind  of  sensible 
incitement  of  my  devotion.  Moreover,  it  is  necessary  to  be 
known  that  the  obeisance  performed  before  the  picture  of 
our  Saviour,  and  that  before  the  picture  of  any  of  the  saints, 
though  to  appearances  the  same,  yet  in  reality  are  very  dif- 
ferent indeed.  For  the  worship  which  I  perform  before  the 
picture  of  the  Saviour  consists  in  the  deepest  humility  of 
soul  before  Him  as  Lord  and  Creator  of  all ;  but  that  which  I 
perform  before  the  pictures  of  the  saints  is  a  reverence  which 
I  render  to  them  out  of  a  loving  heart  as  His  favourites,  and 
as  of  the  same  nature,  and  of  the  same  Church,  and  members 
of  the  same  body  with  myself. 

Of  such  as  err  in  reverencing  the  pictures. 

But  notwithstanding  all  that  has  been  said,  this  lawful 
and  holy  reverencing  of  the  pictures  may  be  turned  into  the 
most  abominable  sin  of  idolatry.  This  is  the  case  when  any- 
one hopes  in,  or  attaches  all  his  respect  to  the  holy  pictures, 
and  trusts  in  their  material  substance;  when,  for  instance, 


304  The  Eighteenth  Century- 

anyone  finds  greater  sanctity  in  one  picture  than  in  another, 
or  places  in  them  any  hope  of  salvation.  They,  too,  are 
chargeable  with  this  guilt  who  bring  their  own  particular 
picture  into  the  church  along  with  them,  and  onh'  worship 
before  it,  or  who  respect  those  pictures  more  which  are 
adorned  than  the  unadorned,  the  old  more  than  the  new, 
or  decline  praying  at  all  when  they  have  not  a  picture  before 
them.  All  these,  and  such  like,  are  great  transgressors, 
and  prove  a  great  disgrace  to  the  real  profession  of  the 
Christian  faith. 

In  order  to  avoid  the  above-named  errors,  it  is  necessary 
to  remember,  ist,  That  the  worship  of  God  can  never  be 
sincere,  unless  it  proceed  from  a  contrite  and  unfeigned  spirit. 
For  all  external  rites  of  worship  are  only  marks  testifying 
our  internal  piety  and  sincerity  towards  God,  without  which 
they  signify  nothing.  And  therefore  the  gospel  requires 
that  the  worshippers  of  God  should  worship  Him  in  spirit 
(not  externally  alone),  and  in  truth,  or  not  in  hypocrisy. 
2d,  We  must  hold  to  the  divine  Word  alone,  and  rest  assured 
that  it  only  contains  the  true  rules  by  which  we  ought  to 
please  God.  And  therefore  Christ  said  concerning  the  Holy 
Scriptures  that  in  them  is  contained  eternal  life. — From 
The  Present  State  of  the  Greek  Church  in  Russia,  translated 
by  R.  Pinkerton. 

FROM  THE  ADDRESS  UPON  THE  ACCESSION  OP 
ALEXANDER  I. 

Thus  has  the  L,ord  granted  to  us  the  privilege  of  seeing 
our  Emperor  crowned  and  exalted  above  men.  But  we,  sons 
of  Russia,  what  is  our  part  in  this  solemnity  ?  Do  not  our 
thanksgivings  resound  in  gratitude  to  the  King  of  kings  for 
the  grace  He  has  bestowed  on  our  monarch  and  upon  us  ? 
Yes,  they  resound  with  heartfelt  ferv'our,  warmed  with  hopes 
of  a  future  reign  of  national  glory  and  happiness!     .     .     . 

This  crown.  Sire,  on  your  head,  is  a  pledge  to  us  of  honour, 
fame  and  renown,  but  imposes  upon  you  duties  and  labours 
which  can  only  cease  with  your  life;  this  sceptre  in  your 


Plat6n  Levshin  305 

right  hand,  a  guarantee  to  us  of  repose,  demands  of  you  in- 
cessant vigilance  for  our  protection ;  this  emblem  of  empire 
in  your  left  hand,  a  promise  to  us  of  security,  exacts  of  you 
little  but  anxiety  and  care;  this  purple,  for  us  a  shield  and 
defence  from  our  enemies,  challenges  you  to  war  and  con- 
tests; finally,  this  whole  Imperial  attire,  to  us  a  source  of 
consolation  and  confidence,  is  for  you  a  burden  wrought 
with  danger  and  toil — yes,  a  burden  and  a  labour.  For  see, 
to  your  eyes  there  will  appear  an  empire  the  largest  upon 
which  the  sun  has  ever  shone ;  from  your  wisdom  it  looks  for 
the  harmonious  connection  of  its  parts,  the  regulation  of  the 
whole.  You  will  see  flocking  to  your  feet  widows,  orphans, 
the  most  destitute,  the  victims  of  the  abuse  of  power,  of 
favour,  of  corruption  and  of  crime.     .     .     . 

But,  alas !  that  near  the  angels  of  light  the  eye  should  dis- 
cover the  fiendish  spirits  of  darkness.  Flattery,  calumny 
and  cunning,  with  all  their  wretched  brood,  will  surround 
your  throne,  and  foolishly  imagine  that  their  hypocrisy  will 
beguile  you.  Bribery  and  partiality  will  raise  their  glossy 
heads  and  labour  to  lower  the  scale  of  justice.  lyuxury, 
adorned  with  every  voluptuous  charm,  presents  the  intoxicat- 
ing draughts  of  perilous  joys  to  lead  astray  from  the  path 
of  virtue  the  pure  spirit,  and  engulf  it  in  the  slough  of  in- 
dolence and  sensuality.  Besieged  by  this  riotous  band,  you 
will  undoubtedly  turn  to  truth,  justice,  wisdom  and  religion, 
and,  united  with  you,  they  will  raise  their  voice  to  God  that 
He  may  rise  again  in  you,  and  scatter  your  enemies. 

Monarch  of  Russia !  This  struggle  awaits  you.  For  this 
contest  gird  on  your  sword !  Draw  it  with  valour,  young 
hero!  Fight,  conquer  and  govern!  The  omnipotent  arm 
of  the  Almighty  will  wonderfully  protect  you.  We  say 
rightly  "  wonderfully  " ;  for  here  not  to  fall,  here  to  conquer, 
here  to  maintain  order  and  peace,  truly!  for  this  is  more 
than  human  strength  required;  and,  though  the  decree  of 
the  Ktemal  Being  has  appointed  for  you  an  exalted  rank 
among  men,  you  are  nevertheless  a  man  like  any  of  us. — 
Given  in  Grahame's  The  Progress  of  Science,  Art  and  Liter- 
ature in  Russia. 

VOL.  I. — 20. 


3o6  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Iv4n  IvAnovich  Kh^mnitser.    (1745-1784.) 

Kh^mnitser  was  the  son  of  a  German  physician  who  had  emigrated 
to  Russia.  At  thirteen  years  of  age  he  left  his  home  and  entered 
military  service,  which  he  left  in  1769  as  a  lieutenant ;  he  then  served 
in  the  Department  of  Mines,  and  died  in  Smyrna,  where  he  was 
Russian  consul.  Kh^mnitser  translated  La  Fontaine's  and  Gellert's 
fahles,  but  two-thirds  of  all  the  fables  he  wrote  are  his  own.  He 
forms  the  transitional  stage  between  Sumar6kov  and  Kryl6v,  and  is 
distinguished  for  extreme  simplicity  of  language  and  a  certain  elegiac 
tone. 

Sir  John  Bowring  has  translated  his  TAg  House-Builder^  The  Rich 
and  the  Poor  Man,  The  Lion's  Council  of  Slate,  and  The  Waggons. 
Sutherland  Edwards,  in  his  The  Russians  at  Home,  gives  a  version 
of  The  Metaphysician,  which  is  also  reprinted  in  F.  R.  Grahame's 
The  Progress  of  Science,  Art  and  Literature  in  Russia. 


THE   LION'S  COUNCIL  OF  STATE 

A  lion  held  a  court  for  state  affairs: 

Why  ?    That  is  not  your  business,  sir,  'twas  theirs! 

He  called  the  elephants  for  counsellors — still 

The  council-board  was  incomplete; 

And  the  king  deemed  it  fit 

With  asses  all  the  vacancies  to  fill. 

Heaven  help  the  state — for  lo !  the  bench  of  asses 

The  bench  of  elephants  by  far  surpasses. 

He  was  a  fool,  the  foresaid  king,  you  '11  say: 

Better  have  kept  those  places  vacant  surely, 

Than  fill  them  up  so  poorly. 

O  no!  that  's  not  the  royal  way; 

Things  have  been  done  for  ages  thus, —  and  we 

Have  a  deep  reverence  for  antiquity : 

Naught  worse,  sir,  than  to  be,  or  to  appear 

Wiser  and  better  than  our  fathers  were. 

The  list  must  be  complete,  even  though  you  make  it 

Complete  with  asses;  for  the  lion  saw 

Such  had  for  ages  been  the  law, — 

He  was  no  radical  to  break  it ! 


Iv4n  Ivinovich  Khemnitser  307 

"  Besides,"  he  said,  "  ray  elephants'  good  sense 

Will  soon  my  asses'  ignorance  diminish, 

For  wisdom  has  a  mighty  influence." 

They  made  a  pretty  finish ! 

The  asses'  folly  soon  obtained  the  sway: 

The  elephants  became  as  dull  as  they ! 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of 
the  Russian  Poets ^  Part  I. 

THE  METAPHYSICIAN 

A  father  had  heard  that  children  were  sent  beyond  the  sea 
to  study,  and  that  those  who  had  been  abroad  are  invariably 
preferred  to  those  who  had  never  been  there,  and  that  such 
people  are  respected  as  being  possessed  of  wisdom.  Seeing 
this,  he  decided  to  send  his  son  also  beyond  the  sea,  for  he 
was  rich  and  did  not  wish  to  fall  behind  the  others. 

His  son  learned  something,  but,  being  stupid,  returned 
more  stupid  yet.  He  had  fallen  into  the  hands  of  scholastic 
prevaricators  who  more  than  once  have  deprived  people  of 
their  senses  by  giving  explanations  of  inexplicable  things; 
they  taught  him  no  whit,  and  sent  him  home  a  fool  forever. 
Formerly  he  used  to  utter  simply  stupid  things,  but  now  he 
gave  them  a  scientific  turn.  Formerly  fools  only  could  not 
understand  him,  but  now  even  wise  men  could  not  g^asp 
him:  his  home,  the  city,  the  whole  world,  was  tired  of  his 
chattering. 

Once,  ra\dng  in  a  metaphysical  meditation  over  an  old 
proposition  to  find  the  first  cause  of  all  things, — while  he 
was  soaring  in  the  clouds  in  thought, — he  walked  off  the  road 
and  fell  into  a  ditch.  His  father,  who  happened  to  be  with 
him,  hastened  to  bring  a  rope,  in  order  to  save  the  precious 
wisdom  of  his  house.  In  the  meantime  his  wise  offspring 
sat  in  the  ditch  and  meditated:  "  What  can  be  the  cause  of 
my  fall  ?  The  cause  of  my  stumbling,"  the  wiseacre  con- 
cluded, "  is  an  earthquake.  And  the  precipitous  tendency 
towards  the  ditch  may  have  been  produced  by  an  aerial 
pressure,  and  a  coactive  interrelation  of  the  seven  planets 
and  the  earth  and  ditch."     .     .     . 


3o8  The  Eighteenth  Century 

His  father  arrived  with  the  rope:  "  Here,"  he  said,  "  is  a 
rope  for  you!  Take  hold  of  it,  and  I  will  pull  you  out. 
Hold  on  to  it  and  do  not  let  it  slip!  "  "  No,  don't  pull  yet: 
tell  me  first  what  kind  of  a  thing  is  a  rope  ?  " 

His  father  was  not  a  learned  man,  but  he  had  his  wits 
about  him,  so,  leaving  his  foolish  question  alone,  he  said : 
"A  rope  is  a  thing  with  which  to  pull  people  out  of  ditches 
into  which  they  have  fallen."  "  Why  have  they  not  in- 
vented a  machine  for  that  ?  A  rope  is  too  simple  a  thing." 
"  'T  would  take  time  for  that,"  his  father  replied,  "  whereas 
your  salvation  is  now  at  hand."  "  Time  ?  What  kind  of  a 
thing  is  time  ?  "  "  Time  is  a  thing  that  I  am  not  going  to 
waste  with  a  fool.  Stay  there,"  his  father  said,  "  until  I 
shall  return! " 

How  would  it  be  if  all  the  other  verbose  talkers  were  col- 
lected and  put  in  the  ditch  to  serve  him  as  companions  ? 
Well,  it  would  take  a  much  larger  ditch  for  that. 

Y4kov  Borisovich  Knyazbnln.    (1742-1791.) 

Enyazhnin  was  bom  in  Pskov,  where  he  received  his  early  educa- 
tion ;  in  St.  Petersburg  he  acquired  German,  French  and  Italian,  and 
began  to  write  verses.  He  served  in  civil  and  military  government 
offices.  In  1769  he  wrote  his  first  tragedy,  Dido,  which  attracted 
Catherine's  attention  to  him.  He  then  married  Sumar6kov's  daugh- 
ter and  devoted  himself  more  especially  to  literature.  Knyazhnin 
wrote  a  number  of  tragedies  and  comedies  :  the  subject  of  all  of  these 
is  taken  from  Italian  and  French,  thus  his  Vadim  of  Nbvgorod  is 
based  on  Metastasio's  Clemenza  di  Tito,  and  the  original  of  Odd 
People'xs  Destouches's  L'homme  singulier.  The  Vadltn  of  Nbvgorod 
had  a  peculiar  history.  Knyazhnin  had  great  admiration  for  Cath- 
erine and  her  autocratic  rule.  In  his  Vadim  he  tried  to  depict  the 
struggle  between  republican  N6vgorod  and  the  monarchic  Rlirik,  in 
which  the  latter  comes  out  victorious,  to  the  advantage  of  unruly 
N6vgorod.  He  had  written  it  in  1789,  but  did  not  stage  it  on  account 
of  the  disturbed  condition  of  Europe  under  the  incipient  French 
Revolution.  Two  years  after  his  death,  in  1793,  Princess  Dishkov, 
the  President  of  the  Academy,  inadvertently  ordered  it  to  be  pub- 
lished. The  book  appeared  most  inopportunely,  at  the  very  time  the 
Revolution  had  broken  forth.  The  tendency  of  the  tragedy  was  over- 
looked, and  only  the  republican  utterances  of  Vadim  were  taken 
notice  of.    The  book  was  ordered  to  be  burnt  by  the  executioner,  but 


Yikov  Borisovich  Knyazhnin        309 

as  only  a  few  copies  could  be  found  in  the  storeroom  of  the  Academy, 
the  rest  having  been  sold  in  the  meanwhile,  they  were  privately 
destroyed. 

VADIM    OF   NOVGOROD 

ACT  I.,    SCENE   2.      VADIM,    PREN^T    AND    VIGOR 

Vadim.  Could  Rurik  so  transform  your  spirit  that  you 
only  weep  where  your  duty  is  to  strike  ? 

Prenist.  We  burn  to  follow  you,  to  be  glorified  for  ever,  to 
crush  the  haughty  throne,  to  resuscitate  our  land;  but 
though  the  zeal  already  burns  within  our  hearts,  it  sees  as 
yet  no  means  of  its  fulfilment.  Disdaining  harsh  and  labor- 
ious days,  if  needs  we  must  die,  we  are  ready ;  but  that  our 
death  be  not  in  vain  and  could  save  our  beloved  land  from 
evil,  and  that,  intent  to  break  the  fetters,  we  tighten  them 
not  more  in  servitude, — we  must  expect  the  aid  of  the  im- 
mortals, for  the  gods  can  give  us  a  favourable  opportunity. 

Vadim.  So  we  must  depend  alone  upon  the  gods  and  in- 
gloriously  remain  the  slaves  we  are  ?  The  gods  have  given 
us  the  opportunity  to  wrest  back  freedom,  and  hearts  to  dare, 
and  hands  to  strike  !  Their  aid  is  within  us:  what  else  do 
you  wish  ?  Go,  creep,  await  in  vain  their  thunder,  but  I 
alone,  boiling  with  anger,  will  move  to  die  for  you,  for  I  can 
brook  no  master  !  O  fate  !  For  three  years  absent  from  my 
country,  enticed  by  victory  for  its  glory  I  left  liberty  and 
happiness  within  these  walls  against  us  erected,  and  have 
been  hurling  pride  into  the  dust.  I  bear  the  fruit  of  my 
exploits  a  gift  to  my  nation :  but  what  do  I  see  ?  Lords  who 
have  lost  their  liberty  bent  in  loathsome  slavery  before  the 
king,  and  kissing  their  yoke  under  the  sceptre.  Tell  me, 
how  could  you,  seeing  your  country's  fall,  for  a  moment 
prolong  your  life  in  shame  ?  And  if  you  could  not  preserve 
your  liberty, — how  could  you  bear  the  light  and  want  to  live  ? 

Vigor.  As  before,  we  burn  with  love  for  our  fatherland ! 

Vadim.  Prove  it  not  with  words,  but  with  your  blood! 
From  your  speech  reject  that  sacred  word.  Or  can  slaves 
have  a  fatherland  ? 

Vigor.  Your  spirit  justly  is  with  grief  embittered,  but  in 


3IO  The  Eighteenth  Century 

vain  you,  bedimmed  by  anger,  accuse  us,  who  are  innocent, 
of  such  an  evil  crime.  No  sooner  did  you  before  the  army 
bid  our  land  good-bye,  than  many  lords,  seeing  a  means 
for  evildoing,  they,  the  mighty,  let  into  the  city,  for  the 
country's  doom,  arrogance,  envy,  hatred,  riot.  The  home 
of  peace  was  transformed  into  a  hell ;  the  holy  truth  hence- 
forth passed  away;  liberty,  flurried,  tottered  to  its  fall;  civil 
strife  with  brazen  brow  erected  a  house  of  death  upon  the 
bodies  of  its  citizens.  The  people  seeing  itself  a  prey  of 
hungry  ravens  fought  with  madness  for  the  election  of  a 
tyrant.  The  whole  V6lkhov  boiled  with  reeking  blood. 
Pitiful  N6vgorod,  you  saw  no  salvation!  The  venerable 
Gostomysl,  with  grey  hair  adorned,  had  lost  all  his  sons 
under  these  our  walls,  and,  weeping  not  for  them  but  the 
calamity  of  the  citizens,  was  alone  given  to  us  a  consolation 
by  the  immortals.  He  invited  Rtirik  to  our  aid,  and  with 
his  sword  returned  happiness  to  us.  Just  then,  worn  out 
from  years  and  woes,  Gostomysl  ended  his  days,  beaming 
with  joy  for  having  brought  back  peace  to  his  country;  but 
departing  to  the  gods  and  honouring  Rurik's  heroism,  he 
enjoined  the  nation  to  leave  to  him  the  power  which  had  put 
a  stop  to  its  groans  and  sorrows.  Our  people,  touched  by 
so  great  deserts,  placed  the  saviour  over  itself  as  ruler. 

Vadim.  Ruler!  Rdrik!  What  nation  has  he  saved? 
Having  come  to  our  aid,  what  has  he  done  for  us  ?  He  has 
paid  a  debt !  However  his  benefactions  may  have  seemed  to 
you  to  deserve  repayment,  were  you  compelled  to  pay  with 
your  liberty,  and  make  your  enslavement  a  gift  to  merit  ? 
O  low  souls  that  fall  down  before  fate  and  are  inveigled  by 
the  stream  of  chance, —  oh,  if  you  had  known  how  to  respect 
yourselves!  Blessed  would  Riirik  be,  if  he  had  been  able, 
though  clad  in  porphyrj',  to  become  equal  to  our  citizens. 
Renowned  by  his  high  title  among  all  kings,  he  would  have 
been  suflficiently  rewarded  by  this  distinction.  Tell  me:  did 
Gostomysl,  aware  of  his  heroic  deeds,  enjoin  fetters  to  you, 
to  end  your  woes,  or  was  his  will  the  freedom  of  the  citizens  ? 
Or  did  he  turn  you  over  to  him,  like  those  beasts  whom 
anyone  who  lists  may  bridle  ? 


Yakov  Borisovich  Knyazhnin         311 
ODD  PEOPLE 

ACT  n.,   SCBNE   2.      MRS.    INDOI.ENT,    UI^INKA, 
WEATHERVANE 

Weathervane.  Ma  channante  Ulinka !  Oh,  how  beautiful 
you  are!  Tous  ces  gens,  how  stupid,  how  dishonest,  and 
they  will  not  see  in  your  eyes  what  I  see. 

Ulinka.  And  what  do  you  see  ? 

Weathervane.  Friponne!  As  if  you  did  not  know  your- 
self that  it  is  not  j)Ossible  to  hate  you,  that  you  are  fairer 
than  heaven!  {Ulinka  courtesies.^  You  courtesy!  How 
elegant!  What  a  consolation  to  have  such  a  daughter! 
{To  Mrs.  Indolent.^     Is  it  not  so,  Maman  ? 

Mrs.  Indolent.  I  must  confess  that  her  education  is  what 
her  birth  demands,  and  as  she  has  all  liberty  in  her 
movements,  as  behooves  a  daughter  born  of  me,  she  is,  sir, 
removed  from  all  coarseness;  and  keeping  herself  aloof  from 
ever3^hing,  as  our  dignity  demands,  she  knows  neither  how 
to  sew  nor  weave,  leaving  such  occupations  to  common 
people;  she  dances  like  a  peacock,  sings  like  a  nightingale, 
and,  knowing  French  like  a  Frenchwoman,  she  would  like 
to  forget  her  Russian;  she  retires  at  three  o'clock,  rises  at 
twelve,  and  passes  two  hours  at  her  toilet. 

WeathervaneT  Bravo,  madam!  That  's  the  way  it  ought 
to  be  before  the  world  and  men, — ah,  how  do  you  call  it  ? 
pour  les  gens  du  haut  ton.  You  must  pardon  me  a  little, 
madam,  if  I  too,  duly  cautious  of  my  honour,  regard  our 
language  to  be  nothing  but  a  jargon,  in  which  it  is  not  pos- 
sible properly  to  express  your  thoughts,  and  where  you  have 
to  wear  yourself  out  mercilessly  in  the  attempt  of  finding 
your  ideas.  Only  out  of  compulsion  do  I  speak  that  lan- 
guage to  my  lackey,  coachman  and  with  all  common  people, 
where  there  is  no  need  to  exert  yourself  in  thinking.  But 
with  our  distinguished  people  it  would  be  to  appear  a  fool, 
not  to  speak  French  to  them.  Pray  tell  me,  how  could  I 
fall  in  love?  Je  briile,  je  languis!  How  could  I  express 
that  in  Russian  to  charming  Ulinka:   I  faint,  I  burn, — 


312  The  Eighteenth  Century 

fi  done!  I  must  assume  that  you  speak  French,  and  so  does 
your  6poux.     .     .     . 

Mrs.  Indolent  (perplexed).  Of  course,  of  course!  Com- 
ment vous  portez-vous  ? 

Weathervane.  Bravo,  madam! 

Mrs.  Indolent.  I  am  now  a  little  out  of  practice,  but 
formerly  I  never  prattled  in  Russian. 

Weathervane.  You  will  hardly  believe  how  poor  I  am  in 
Russian  I  In  Russian  my  intelligence  is  so  narrow,  so  small ! 
But  in  French :  o,  que  le  diable  m'emporte  I  My  intelligence 
at  once  walks  in  by  the  grande  porte.  I  '11  tell  you  what 
once  happened  to  me.  I  was  once  sitting  with  a  young 
lady  who  did  not  know  two  words  of  French,  and  that 
caused  ma  t€te  horriblement  to  ache,  so  that  I  had  to  pass  a 
whole  day  at  home  in  undress. 

Mrs.  Indolent.  I  should  not  think  the  harm  could  be  so 
great.     The  pain,  no  doubt,  was  caused  through  nagimation. 

Weathervane.  Imagination  you  meant  to  say  ? 

Mrs.  Indolent.  That  's  it.  You  see,  though  I  am  a  little 
out  of  practice,  I  am  still  able  to  adorn  our  coarse  tongue, 
which  I  despise,  with  French  morsels.  My  6poux  has 
always  seemed  such  an  odd  fellow  to  me  because,  though  he 
knows  French  like  a  Frenchman,  he  does  not  care  to  amuse 
himself  with  that  charming  language. 

Weathervane.  That,  madam,  I  cannot  understand.  A 
nobleman     .     .     . 

Mrs.  Indolent.  Oh!  His  race  is  as  distinguished  as  the 
ace  of  trumps,  and  nobody  can  compare  with  him  in  antiquity 
of  origin:  he  can  recount  his  ancestors  a  thousand  years 
back. 

Weathervane.  And  so  there  is  not  the  least  obstacle,  ma 
charmante  Ulinka,  for  regarding  you  as  my  own!  (JJlinka 
makes  a  courtesy.)  Everything  is  equal  in  us:  the  graces, 
and  pleasures,  and  intelligence,  je  m'en  flatte,  and  even  our 
families.  {Ulinka  courtesies^  How  delicate  your  courtesy- 
ing  at  the  mention  of  family !  Courtesying  takes  the  place 
of  redundant  language,  de  discours  frivoles,  superfluous 
babbling.     She  knows  how  to  say  everything  in  a  charming 


Ycikov  Borisovich  Knyazhnin         313 

manner,  and  with  modesty  to  express  an  immodest  wish, 
who  knows  how  to  courtesy  like  Ulinka.  {Noticing  Mrs. 
Indolenfs  htisband.^  Please  tell  me  who  is  that  bear  that 
is  walking  towards  us  ? 

Mrs.  Indolent.  My  husband. 

Weathervane.  You  are  joking!  Is  it  not  rather  his  ances- 
tor who  a  thousand  years  ago  began  his  race  ? 

Mrs.  Indolent.  The  exterior,  you  know,  does  not  tell 
much.  In  this  world,  sir,  it  is  not  rare  for  hidden  nobility 
to  deceive  the  eye :  though  the  diamond  does  not  shine  in 
the  bark,  yet  it  is  a  diamond.  He  is,  I  assure  you,  a  noble- 
man of  ancient  race,  and,  forgive  me,  a  bit  of  a  philosopher. 

Weathervane.  Is  it  not  a  shame  to  rank  yourself  with 
asses  ?     Is  it  an  occupation  for  a  nobleman  to  philosophise  ? 

Mrs.  Indolent  (Jo  Ulinka).  Now,  Ulinka,  you  cannot  stay 
here;  we  have  to  talk  with  father  about  you.  {Ulinka 
courtesies.     Exit.) 

SC:ENE  3.      INDOLENT,    MRS.   INDOLENT,    WEATHERVANE 

Mrs.  Indolent  (aside).  O  Heaven !  Help  me  to  end  all  suc- 
cessfully. I  tremble,  I  am  afraid  my  husband  will  give  me 
away,  for  he  cannot  speak  a  word  of  French,  and  it  is  but 
recently  that  he  was  made  a  nobleman.  How  unfortunate  I 
am !  How  am  I  to  bear  it  all  ?  (7b  her  husband.)  You  see 
here  that  distinguished  cavalier  who  is  doing  us  the  extreme 
honour. 

Weathervane  (bending  ^  greets  him  foppishly).  I  wish  to  be 
a  son-in-law.     .     .     . 

Indolent  (seating  himself).  He  who  wants  to  sit  down,  let 
him  sit  down.  I  have  no  use  for  your  manners,  according 
to  which  one  has  to  be  urged  to  sit  down.  Well,  distin- 
guished cavalier  .  .  .  ( Weathervane  bows  again  fop- 
pishly) please  quit  your  monograms  which  you  are  making 
with  your  feet.  By  bowing  in  flourishes,  between  us  be  it 
said,  you  will  find  little  favour  with  me.  With  all  these 
goatlike  leaps  a  person  appears  to  me  to  be  full  of  wind  and 
without  a  soul.  Sir,  make  a  mental  note  of  it,  if  you  wish  to 
be  my  son-in-law. 


314  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Weathervane.  If  I  wish  ?  O  ciel !  Those  are  tous  mes 
voeux  !  Agnes  Sorel  was  not  so  loved  by  the  French  king, 
as  3'our  daughter  by  me.  Je  jurerai  toujours,  I  may  say 
without  making  any  court  to  her,  she  is  a  divinit6! 

Indolent  {to  his  wife  in  amazement).  From  where,  dear  wife, 
has  God  sent  you  such  a  cavalier  ? 

Weathervane.  Beaucoupd'honneur,  monsieur!  So  I  have 
found  favour  in  your  eyes  ?  I  knew  I  would.  You  will  not 
find  another  one  like  me,  monsieur ! 

Indolent.  Mosyo,  give  me  a  chance  to  regain  my  senses! 
I  beg  you.     .     .     . 

Weathervane.  But  you  put  me  to  shame:  you  flatter  me 
by  saying  that  you  are  stunned  by  me. 

Indolent.  Proceed,  tormentor! 

Weathervane.  'T  is  true  I  have  merite;  without  boasting, 
j'ose  vous  dire  that;  but  I  do  not  know  whether  it  will  cause 
any  delire, — only  the  world  says  that  it  would  take  a  pretty 
good  man  to  beat  me  for  talent;  qu'un  homme  tel  que 
moi     .     .     . 

Indolent.  Don't  believe  it,  the  world  often  rants. 

Weathervane.  Comment? 

Indolent.  Tell  me,  are  you  a  Russian  or  a  Frenchman  ? 

Weathervane.  H61as!     I  am  not  a  Frenchman! 

Indolent.  What  makes  you  groan  so  ? 

Weathervane  (jsorrow/ully).  I  am  a  Russian,  and  that  is  a 
burden  on  my  heart. 

Indolent.  And  so  you  regard  it  an  insult  to  be  a  Russian  ? 
A  fine  distinguished  nobleman ! 

Weathervane.  I  am  very,  very  glad,  on  ne  pent  plus,  that 
I  have  pleased  you,  monsieur;  que  vous  avez  the  same 
thoughts  as  I.  How  can  we  best  prove  our  nobility  ?  By 
not  knowing  Russian,  despising  all  that  is  ours, —  those  are 
the  veritable  signs  of  our  descent. 

Indolent.  Though  I  cannot  understand  everything  you 
say,  since  I  do  not  know  any  foreign  words,  yet  by  the 
marks    .     .     . 

Weathervane.  Vous  vous  moquez,  monsieur.  You  do 
know  French. 


Y^kov  Borisovich  Knyazhnin        315 

Indolent  {angrily).  No,  no,  no! 

Weathervane.  At  your  age,  monsieur,  it  is  not  proper  for 
you  to  deceive  me.  You  speak  French  like  a  Frenchman, 
or  like  myself. 

Indolent  {impatiently).  Wife,  assure  him  of  it,  and  put  a 
stop  to  this  nonsense. 

Weathervane  {angrily).  Je  ne  le  croirai  point !  How  stub- 
born you  are ! 

Indolent  {excitedly).  The  devil     .     .     . 

Mrs.  Indolent  {rapidly).  My  darling,  please  do  not  get 
angry. 

hidolent  {excitedly).  Both  of  you  go  to!  I  have  not  seen 
the  like  of  him  in  all  my  life. 

Mrs.  Indolent.  You  are  a  philosopher,  and  does  Seneca, 
sir,  teach  you  that  ? 

Indolent  {coolly).  I  am  ready  to  constrain  myself,  if  only 
he  will  talk  Russian  with  me. 

Weathervane.  What!  you  are  of  a  very  noble  origin, 
and  you  are  piqued  ? 

Indolent  {beside  himself).  Who  told  you  so?  I  am  of 
burgher  origin,  but  of  a  good  family. 

Weathervane.  You,  monsieur,  have  been  a  nobleman  these 
thousand  years. 

Indolent.  Believe  me,  I  am  a  new-baked  dumpling;  but  I 
am  more  juicy  than  those  that  have  grown  tough. 

Mrs.  Indolent.  Stop  that     .     .     . 

Indolent.  That  we  may  understand  each  other,  I  shall  tell 
you  plainly :  my  father,  all  remember  that,  was  an  honest 
smith. 

Weathervane.  Qu'entends-je!  {He  walks  away y  singing  a 
French  song.) 

Indolent.  Good-bye! 

Mrs.  Indolent  {fainting  away).  I  am  undone !  Oh,  I  am 
sick! 

Indolent.  What  nonsense !  To  feel  sick  because  I  cannot 
speak  French,  and  because  my  father  is  a  smith!  You 
ought  not  to  have  treated  me  that  way,  by  lying  about  me. 
No,  my  Ulinka  shall  not  mary  him. 


3i6  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Princess  Ekaterina  Romdnovna  Ddshkov. 
(1743-1810.) 

Princess  DAshkov  was  educated  in  the  house  of  her  uncle,  Vice- 
Chancellor  Voronts6v.  She  knew  a  number  of  foreign  languages  and 
took  an  interest  in  politics,  rummaging  through  the  documents  in  her 
uncle's  archives.  She  travelled  much  abroad,  where  she  cultivated 
the  acquaintance  of  Diderot  and  Voltaire ;  during  a  visit  in  England, 
when  her  son  was  graduating  from  the  Edinburgh  University,  she 
met  also  Robertson  and  Adam  Smith.  Upon  her  return  to  Russia, 
Catherine  II.,  partly  from  a  sincere  respect  for  her  talents,  and  partly 
to  reward  her  for  her  eflforts  in  obtaining  the  throne  for  the  Empress, 
made  her  the  President  of  the  Russian  Academy  which  Princess 
Ddshkov  had  herself  founded.  Her  labours  for  the  Academy  were 
both  thorough  and  far-reaching.  She  encouraged  young  writers, 
sent  men  abroad  to  be  educated,  published  the  first  dictionary 
of  the  Russian  language,  caused  others  to  translate  from  foreign 
tongues,  and  herself  translated,  especially  from  English  ;  she  estab- 
lished several  periodicals  and  did  much  for  the  advancement  of  science. 
In  1795,  Princess  Ddshkov  incurred  the  Empress's  disfavour  for  per- 
mitting Knyazhnin's  drama,  Vadim  0/ Ndvgorod,  to  be  published  in 
the  Russian  Theatre  (see  p.  308).  Paul,  who  ascended  the  throne  the 
next  year,  removed  her  from  her  post,  but  at  the  accession  of  Alexan- 
der I.,  the  Academy  unanimously  voted  to  reinstate  her  as  its  Presi- 
dent, but  she  declined  the  offer. 

Her  Memoirs  were  originally  written  in  French,  but  they  first  saw 
the  light  in  English,  under  the  title :  Memoirs  of  Princess  Dashkaw, 
Written  by  Herself,  edited  by  Mrs.  W.  Bradford,  London,  1840, 
2  vols. 

THE  ESTABLISHMENT  OF  A  RUSSIAN  ACADEMY 

One  day,  whilst  I  was  walking  with  the  Empress  in  the 
gardens  of  Tsdrskoe  Sel6,  our  conversation  turned  on  the 
beauty  and  richness  of  the  Russian  language,  which  led  me 
to  express  a  sort  of  surprise  that  her  Majesty,  who  could  well 
appreciate  its  value,  and  was  herself  an  author,  had  never 
thought  of  establishing  a  Russian  Academy. 

I  observed  that  nothing  was  wanting  but  rules,  and  a  good 
dictionary,  to  render  our  language  wholly  independent  of 
those  foreign  terms  and  phrases,  so  very  inferior  to  our  own 
in  expression  and  energy,  which  had  been  so  absurdly 
introduced  into  it. 


Princess  Ekaterina  Romanovna  Dashkov  317 

"  I  really  know  not,"  replied  her  Majesty,  "  how  it  hap- 
pens that  such  an  idea  has  not  been  already  carried  into 
effect;  the  usefulness  of  an  establishment  for  the  improve- 
ment of  our  own  language  has  often  occupied  my  thoughts, 
and  I  have  even  given  directions  about  it." 

"That  is  very  surprising,  madam,"  said  I,  "for  surely 
nothing  can  well  be  easier  than  the  execution  of  such  a  pro- 
ject. There  is  a  great  variety  of  models  to  be  found,  and 
you  have  only  to  make  choice  of  the  best." 

"  Do  you,  Princess,  I  beg,"  returned  her  Majesty,  "  give 
me  a  sketch  of  one." 

"  It  would  be  better,  madam,"  replied  I,  "were  you  to 
order  one  of  your  secretaries  to  present  you  with  a  plan  of 
the  French  Academy,  the  Academy  at  Berlin,  and  a  few 
others,  with  remarks  on  such  particulars  as  might  be  better 
adapted  to  the  genius  and  habits  of  your  own  people. ' ' 

"  I  entreat  of  you,  I  must  beg  to  repeat  it,"  said  the  Em- 
press, "  that  you  will  take  upon  yourself  this  trouble,  for 
then  I  can  confidently  look  forward,  through  your  zeal  and 
activity,  to  the  accomplishment  of  an  object  which,  with 
shame  I  confess  it,  has  been  too  long  delayed." 

"  The  trouble,  madam,"  I  said,  "  will  be  very  trifling,  and 
I  will  obey  you  as  expeditiously  as  possible;  but  I  have  not 
the  books  I  wish  to  refer  to  at  hand,  and  I  must  be  allowed 
the  liberty  of  again  assuring  your  Majesty  that  any  of  the 
secretaries  in  the  ante-chamber  would  execute  the  commis- 
sion better  than  myself." 

Her  Majesty,  however,  continuing  to  express  herself  of  a 
different  opinion,  I  found  it  useless  to  offer  objections. 

When  I  returned  home  in  the  evening,  I  set  myself,  there- 
fore, to  consider  how  I  might  best  execute  her  orders,  and 
before  I  went  to  bed  I  drew  up  a  sort  of  plan,  which  I 
thought  might  furnish  some  ideas  for  the  formation  of  the 
establishment  in  view,  and  sent  it  off  to  the  Empress,  more, 
indeed,  for  the  purpose  of  complying  with  her  wishes  than 
from  any  serious  thought  of  furnishing  a  design  worthy  of 
her  choice  and  adoption.  My  astonishment  may  therefore 
be  imagined,  when  I  received  back,  from  the  hands  of  her 


3i8  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Majesty,  this  imperfect  outline  of  a  scheme  hastily  con- 
ceived and  informally  drawn  up,  with  all  the  ceremonial 
of  an  official  instrument,  confirmed  by  the  sanction  of  her 
Imperial  signature,  and  accompanied  with  an  ukase  which 
conferred  on  me  the  presidentship  of  the  embryo  academy. 
A  copy  of  this  ukase,  I  at  the  same  time  learned,  had  been 
transmitted  to  the  Senate. 

Though  this  had  the  air  of  the  Empress's  being  in  earnest, 
and  resolute  in  her  intentions  with  regard  to  me,  I  neverthe- 
less went  to  Tsdrskoe  Sel6  two  days  afterwards,  still  hoping 
to  prevail  on  her  Majesty  to  make  choice  of  some  other  presi- 
dent. Finding  my  eflforts  unavailing,  I  told  her  Majesty  that 
as  Director  of  the  Academy  of  Arts  and  Sciences  I  had  already 
at  my  disposal  sufficient  funds  for  the  maintenance  of  the 
new  establishment,  and  that  she  need  be  at  no  other  ex- 
pense, at  present,  than  the  purchase  of  a  house  for  it. 
These  funds,  I  observed,  in  explanation,  would  arise  out  of 
the  five  thousand  roubles  which  she  gave  annually,  from  her 
private  purse,  for  translations  of  the  classics.  The  Empress 
evinced  her  surprise  and  satisfaction,  but  expressed  her 
hopes  that  the  translations  should  be  continued. 

"  Most  assuredly,  madam,"  said  I,  "  the  translations  shall 
be  carried  on,  and  I  trust  more  extensively  than  hitherto,  by 
the  students  of  the  Academy  of  Sciences,  subject  to  the  re- 
vision and  correction  of  the  professors;  and  thus  the  five 
thousand  roubles,  of  which  the  directors  have  never  rend- 
ered any  account,  and  which,  to  judge  from  the  very  few 
translations  that  have  appeared,  they  seem  to  have  put  into 
their  own  pockets,  may  now  be  turned  to  a  very  useful  pur- 
pose. I  will  have  the  honour,  madam,"  added  I,  "of  pre- 
senting you  soon  with  an  estimate  of  all  the  necessary 
expenses  of  the  proposed  establishment;  and  considering 
the  sum  I  have  stated  as  the  extent  of  its  means,  we  shall 
then  see  if  anything  remains  for  the  less  absolute  requisites, 
such  as  medals  and  casts, —  a  few  of  which  may  be  deemed, 
indeed,  almost  indispensable,  in  order  to  reward  and  distin- 
guish the  most  deserving  of  its  students." 

In  the  estimate,  which  I  accordingly  made,  I  fixed  the 


Princess  Ekaterina  Romano vna  D^hkov  319 

salar>'  of  two  secretaries  at  900  roubles,  and  of  two  translat- 
ors at  450  roubles  each.  It  was  necessary,  also,  to  have  a 
treasurer,  and  four  persons,  invalid  soldiers,  to  heat  the 
stove  and  take  care  of  the  house.  These  appointments 
together  I  estimated  at  3300  roubles,  which  left  the  1700  for 
fuel,  paper  and  the  occasional  purchase  of  books,  but  no 
surplus  whatever  for  casts  and  medals. 

Her  Majesty,  who  had  been  accustomed  to  a  very  different 
scale  of  expenditure,  was,  I  think,  more  surprised  than 
pleased  at  this  estimate;  but  signified  her  desire  to  add 
whatever  was  wanted  for  the  purposes  not  provided  for  in  it, 
and  this  I  fixed  at  1 250  roubles.  The  salary  of  the  president, 
and  contingent  perquisites  of  ofl&ce,  were  not  usually  forgot- 
ten in  estimates  of  this  nature,  but  in  the  present  I  had  not 
assigned  myself  a  single  rouble;  and  thus  was  a  most  useful 
establishment,  answering  every  object  of  its  institution, 
founded  and  supported  at  no  greater  expense  to  her  Majesty 
than  the  price  of  a  few  honorary  badges. 

To  sum  up  all  that  may  be  said  on  the  subject  of  the  Rus- 
sian Academy,  I  may  be  allowed  to  state  the  following  par- 
ticulars: viz.,  in  the  first  place,  that  with  three  years'  arrears 
of  her  Majesty's  bounty,  originally  granted  for  the  translation 
of  the  classics,  which  had  not  been  paid  to  Mr.  Domdshnev, 
— that  is  to  say,  with  15,000  roubles,  in  addition  to  what  sums 
I  could  spare  from  the  economic  fund, — I  built  two  houses  in 
the  court  of  the  house  given  by  the  Kmpress  for  the  Academy, 
which  added  a  rent  of  1950  roubles  to  its  revenue;  I  furn- 
ished the  house  of  the  Academy,  and  by  degrees  purchased 
a  very  considerable  library,  having,  in  the  meantime,  lent 
my  own  for  its  use ;  I  left  4900  roubles  as  a  fund,  placed  in 
the  Foundling  Hospital;  I  began,  finished  and  published  a 
dictionary;  and  all  this  I  had  accomplished  at  the  end  of 
eleven  years.  I  say  nothing  of  the  new  building  for  the 
Academy,  the  elevation  of  which  has  been  so  much  admired, 
executed,  indeed,  under  my  directions,  but  at  the  expense  of 
the  Crown,  and  therefore  not  to  be  enumerated  among  those 
labours  which  were  more  especially  my  own.  Besides,  had 
it  been,  strictly  speaking,  a  work  of  mine,  I  could  never 


320  The  Eighteenth  Century 

have  considered  it  as  one  of  my  labours;  for  with  so  decided 
a  taste,  or  rather  passion,  as  I  had  for  architecture,  such  a 
work  would  have  formed  one  of  my  highest  gratifications. 

I  ought  to  observe,  before  I  dismiss  the  subject,  that  many 
things  occurred  at  Court  relative  to  the  concerns  of  my  ofl&ce 
both  to  vex  and  disgust  me.  The  enlightened  part  of  the 
public,  indeed,  rendered  me  more  than  justice  in  the  tribute 
of  praise  they  bestowed  on  my  zeal  and  public-spiritedness,  to 
which  they  were  pleased  to  refer  all  the  merit  of  the  institu- 
tion of  a  Russian  Academy,  as  well  as  the  astonishing 
rapidity  with  which  the  first  dictionary  of  our  native  lan- 
guage was  completed. 

This  latter  work  was  the  subject  of  a  very  clamorous 
criticism,  particularly  as  to  the  method  of  its  verbal  arrange- 
ment, which  was  not  according  to  an  alphabetical,  but  an 
etymological  order.  This  was  objected  to,  as  rendering  the 
dictionary  confused,  and  ill  adapted  for  popular  use;  an 
objection  very  loudly  echoed  by  the  courtiers  as  soon  as  it 
was  known  to  have  been  made  by  the  Empress,  who  asked 
me  more  than  once  why  we  had  adopted  so  inconvenient  an 
arrangement.  It  was,  I  informed  her  Majesty,  no  unusual 
one  in  the  first  dictionary  of  any  language,  on  account  of  the 
greater  facility  it  afforded  in  showing  and  even  discovering 
the  roots  of  words;  but  that  the  Academy  would  publish,  in 
about  three  years,  a  second  edition,  arranged  alphabetically, 
and  much  more  perfect  in  every  respect. 

I  know  not  how  it  was  that  the  Empress,  whose  perception 
could  embrace  every  object,  even  those  the  most  profound, 
appeared  not  to  comprehend  me,  but  this  I  know,  that  I  ex- 
perienced in  consequence  much  annoyance,  and  notwith- 
standing my  repugnance  to  declare  the  opinion  which  her 
Majesty  had  pronounced  against  our  dictionary,  at  a  sitting 
of  the  Academy,  I  determined  to  bring  forward  the  question 
again  at  our  first  meeting,  without  entering  into  some  other 
matters  connected  with  it  for  which  I  had  often  been  made 
accountable. 

All  the  members,  as  I  expected,  gave  their  judgment  that 
it  was  impossible  to  arrange  otherwise  the  first  dictionary  of 


Semen  Andr^evich  Poroshin         321 

our  language,  but  that  the  second  would  be  more  complete, 
and  disposed  in  aphabetical  order. 

I  repeated  to  the  Empress,  the  next  time  I  saw  her,  the 
unanimous  opinion  of  the  academicians,  and  the  reason  for 
it.  Her  Majesty,  however,  continued  to  retain  her  own,  and 
was,  in  fact,  at  that  time  much  interested  in  a  work  dignified 
by  the  name  of  a  dictionary,  of  which  Mr.  Pallas  was  the 
compiler.  It  was  a  sort  of  vocabulary,  in  nearly  a  hundred 
languages,  some  of  which  presented  the  reader  with  about  a 
score  of  words  only,  such  as  earth,  air,  water,  father,  mother 
and  so  forth.  Its  learned  author,  celebrated  for  the  publica- 
tion of  his  travels  in  Russia,  and  for  his  attainments  in 
natural  history,  had  dared  to  run  up  the  expense  of  printing 
this  work,  called  a  dictionary,  to  flatter  a  little  prejudice  of 
her  Majesty,  to  a  sum  exceeding  20,000  roubles,  not  to  men- 
tion the  very  considerable  cost  it  brought  on  the  Cabinet  in 
dispatching  couriers  into  Siberia,  Kamchatka  and  so  forth, 
to  pick  up  a  few  words  in  different  languages,  meagre  and  of 
little  utility. 

Paltry  and  imperfect  as  was  this  singular  performance,  it 
was  extolled  as  an  admirable  dictionary,  and  was  to  me  at 
that  time  an  occasion  of  much  disgust  and  vexation. 

Sem6n  Andr^evich  Poroshin.    (1741-1769.) 

Poroshin  studied  in  the  military  school,  where  he  distinguished 
himself  for  his  knowledge  of  foreign  languages  and  mathematics. 
Even  as  a  student,  he  became  a  contributor  to  literary  magazines. 
After  leaving  school,  he  was  attached  as  adjutant  to  Peter  III,  From 
1762  he  was  teacher  of  mathematics  to  Paul,  whom  he  tried  to  impress 
with  a  sense  of  duty  and  love  of  country.  In  1764  and  1765  he  kept  a 
diary  of  his  relations  to  the  young  Grand  Duke,  hoping  some  day  to 
use  it  as  material  for  a  history  of  his  reign.  In  1769  he  died  during 
an  expedition  against  Turkey,  being  then  commander  of  a  regiment 
of  infantry. 

FROM  HIS   "DIARY" 

October  2g,  1764.. — Having  dressed  himself,  his  Highness 
sat  down  to  study.  Then  he  went  incognito  to  his  drawing- 
room  to  get  a  look  at  the  Turkish  ambassador,  who  was 

VOL.  I.— 21. 


322  The  Eighteenth  Century 

having  an  audience  with  his  Excellency  Nikita  Ivdnovich. 
He  was  received  in  the  same  manner  as  the  first  time.  But 
when  I  arrived,  his  Highness  did  not  receive  me  so  kindly 
as  to  make  me  satisfied  with  him.  I  do  not  wish  now  to 
enter  into  any  especial  discussion  of  the  cause  of  it,  but  will 
only  remark  that  his  Highness  is  frequently  greatly  influ- 
enced by  the  remarks  made  in  regard  to  absent  persons 
which  he  happens  to  overhear.  I  have  repeatedly  noticed 
that  if  anything  favourable  or  laudatory  is  said  in  his  hear- 
ing of  someone,  his  Highness  later  shows  himself  kindly 
disposed  to  him ;  if,  on  the  contrary,  something  unfavourable 
and  deprecatory  is  said  of  anyone,  especially  when  the  re- 
mark is  not  made  directly  to  his  Highness,  but  as  if  by  accid- 
ent, he,  seeing  him,  appears  to  be  cold  to  him. 

We  seated  ourselves  at  the  table.  His  Excellency  Nikita 
Ivdnovich  did  not  dine  with  us.  Of  outsiders  there  was  only 
Count  Alexander  Sergy^ich  Strogan6v.  I  have  suffered 
terrible  anguish  to-day  at  table.  How  could  one  help  suf- 
fering, considering  what  had  taken  place  ?  We  were  talking 
about  Peter  the  Great.  Someone,  passing  in  silence  all  the 
great  qualities  of  that  monarch,  deemed  it  proper  to  dwell 
only  on  the  fact  that  the  Tsar  used  often  to  get  drunk,  and 
that  he  beat  his  ministers  with  his  cane.  Another  person, 
incautiously  emulating  this  conversation,  which  ought  in  no 
way  be  tolerated  in  the  presence  of  his  Highness,  added  that 
when  the  Tsar  was  at  one  time  beating  with  his  cane  one  of 
his  generals  who  was  a  German,  the  latter  later  repeated 
from  the  Bible:  "  The  hand  of  the  IvOrd  was  ^pon  me,  etc." 
The  first  person  continued,  saying  that  history  knew  only 
of  two  royal  wallopers,  Peter  I.  and  the  late  King  of  Prussia, 
the  father  of  the  present  King.  I^ater  he  began  to  praise 
Charles  XII.,  the  King  of  Sweden;  I  told  him  that  Voltaire 
had  written  that  Charles  XII.  deserved  to  be  the  first  soldier 
in  Peter  the  Great's  army.  Upon  this  his  Highness  asked 
whether  it  was  really  so.  The  speaker  answered  his  High- 
ness that  it  was  very  likely  written  that  way,  but  that  it  was 
nothing  but  mere  flattery. 

When  I  later  spoke  of  the  Emperor's  letters, which  he  had 


Semdn  Andr^evich  Poroshin         323 

written  from  abroad  to  his  ministers,  and  remarked  that  for 
the  correct  understanding  of  his  time  it  was  necessary  to 
have  these  letters,  and  that  I  possessed  many  of  them,  and 
so  forth,  the  first  speaker  did  not  deign  to  make  any  other 
remarks  thereupon  except  that  these  letters  were  very  funny 
because  the  Emperor  often  addressed  them  to  ' '  Min  Her  Ad- 
miral," and  signed  them  "  Piter."  I  found  it  difiScult  to  dis- 
semble my  dissatisfaction,  and  to  subdue  my  excitement. 

I  leave  it  to  the  whole  intelligent  and  unbiassed  world 
whether  it  is  proper  to  let  his  Imperial  Highness,  the  heir 
apparent  of  the  Russian  throne,  and  a  great-grandchild  of 
Emperor  Peter  the  Great,  to  be  a  witness  to  such  malicious 
remarks,  Xenophon  has  represented  in  his  Cyrus  a  perfect 
king,  and  his  rule  a  beneficent  rule,  and  an  example  for  the 
emulation  of  the  monarchs  of  future  generations.  Senseless 
historians  in  many  points  contradict  Xenophon's  history, 
and  try  to  point  out  the  weaknesses  of  his  hero.  But  clever 
and  far-sighted  men  care  very  little  whether  Cyrus  was 
really  such  as  Xenophon  has  painted  him,  or  otherwise, 
and  extol  the  historian  for  having  given  us  a  perfect  model 
for  kings,  and  they  adduce  his  wise  rule  as  an  example  for 
them  to  follow.  Thus,  too,  many  other  menarchs,  whose 
great  deeds  history  has  preserved  to  our  own  days,  are 
adduced  as  an  example.  Is  it  not  necessary  to  present  to 
his  Highness  the  praiseworthy  deeds  of  famous  heroes,  in 
order  to  rouse  in  him  the  desire  and  noble  impulse  of  emulat- 
ing them  ?  That  seems  to  be  evident  and  incontrovertible. 
Now,  whose  deeds  will  awaken  in  him  a  greater  attention, 
will  produce  a  stronger  effect  upon  him,  and  are  more  im- 
portant for  his  knowledge,  than  the  deeds  of  Emperor  Peter 
the  Great  of  blessed  memory  ?  They  are  esteemed  great  and 
glorious  in  the  whole  subsolar  world,  and  are  proclaimed 
with  ecstasy  by  the  lips  of  the  sons  of  Russia.  The  Grand 
Duke,  his  Highness' s  own  grandchild,  was  bom  in  the  same 
nation,  and  by  the  decree  of  God  will  in  time  be  the  ruler  of 
the  same  nation. 

If  there  had  never  beer  on  the  Russian  throne  such  an 
incomparable  man  as  was  his  Highness' s  great  ancestor,  it 


324  The  Eighteenth  Century 

would  be  useful  to  invent  him,  for  his  Highness' s  emulation. 
But  we  have  such  a  famous  hero, — and  what  happens  ?  I  do 
not  mean  to  say  that  the  Emperor  Peter  the  Great  was  free 
from  imperfections.  Who  of  mortals  is?  As  many  great 
men  as  history  knows  have  all  been  subject  to  certain  weak- 
nesses. But  when  they  are  used  as  examples,  we  must  not 
sermonise  about  their  vices,  but  about  their  virtues.  Vices 
may  either  entirely  be  passed  over  in  silence,  or  they  may 
be  mentioned,  but  only  incidentally,  with  the  remark  that 
the  ruler  who  is  taken  as  a  model  tried  his  best  to  free  him- 
self from  them  and  that  he  overcame  them.  And  the  very 
opposite  has  happened.     .     .     . 

At  table  Prince  Baryatinski  remarked  that  during  his  stay 
in  Sweden  he  had  heard  that  all  the  wearing  apparel,  sword, 
boots  and  everything  else  that  had  belonged  to  King  Charles 
XII.  was  preserved  in  the  arsenal.  I  retorted  that  in  our 
Museum  are  preserved  the  wearing  apparel  and  other  be- 
longings of  Peter  the  Great,  but  that  we  naturally  had  more 
reason  to  keep  these  things  than  the  Swedes,  because  the 
one  defended  his  country  and  brought  it  to  a  flourishing 
condition,  while  the  other  had  brought  his  to  such  ruin 
that  even  to  the  present  day  it  has  not  been  resuscitated, 
and  that,  of  course,  not  one  intelligent  Swede  could  mention 
the  name  of  Charles  XII.  without  disgust.  Prince  Sergy^ich 
assented  to  this.  Then  the  conversation  turned  to  Keissler's 
travels,  and  then  to  the  academic  translators  Tepl6v,  Golub- 
ts6v  and  L^bedev.  I  said  that  thej"^  knew  and  translated 
Russian  well.  The  first  speaker  remarked  to  that:  "And 
yet  they  all  died  the  same  death,  namely,  from  drinking. ' ' 
Thereupon  the  Grand  Duke  turned  to  me  and  said :  ' '  Now, 
you  hear  that  yourself.  I  suppose  that  is  not  a  lie  ?  "  I 
answered  that  I  did  not  know  them  intimately,  that  I  was 
not  acquainted  with  the  manner  of  their  demise,  and  that 
equally  I  did  not  know  where  that  gentleman  got  his  in- 
formation. 

February  28,  1765. — His  Highness  arose  at  eight  o'clock. 
Afler  having  dressed  himself,  he  sat  down  to  his  customary 
studies.     After  his  lesson  he  looked  with  me  carefully  at  the 


Semdn  Andreevich  Poroshin         325 

road  map  to  Moscow,  and  recollected  where  and  how  we 
passed  the  time  on  our  last  journey  thither.  I  read  to  his 
Highness  Vertot's  History  of  the  Order  of  Maltese  Knights. 
Then  he  amused  himself  with  his  toys,  and,  attaching  to  his 
cavalry  the  flag  of  the  admiralty,  imagined  himself  a  Maltese 
Knight.  At  ten  o'clock  we  sat  down  to  breakfast.  We 
spoke  of  Moscow  and  dramatic  performances.  We  were 
about  to  rise  from  table,  when  someone,  I  do  not  remember 
who,  asked  for  butter  and  cheese.  The  Grand  Duke  became 
angry  at  the  butler  and  said :  ' '  Why  did  you  not  put  it  on 
the  table  before?  "  and  then  turning  to  us:  "  They  simply 
steal  the  things  for  themselves!  "  We  all  armed  ourselves 
against  the  Grand  Duke  and  told  him  in  French  how  bad  it 
was  to  insult  in  this  way  a  man  of  whom  he  could  not  know 
whether  he  was  guilty  or  not. 

When  we  left  the  table,  this  sermon  was  continued.  Mr. 
Osterwald  and  I  told  his  Highness  in  strong  terms  how  bad 
his  action  was,  and  how  easily  he  could  cause  those  people 
to  hate  him.  Then  our  conversation  turned  to  the  labours 
that  an  Emperor  must  undertake.  His  Highness  remarked 
among  other  things:  "  But  an  Emperor  cannot  work  all  the 
time!  He  needs  also  some  rest,  and  his  amusements."  To 
this  I  retorted  to  the  Grand  Duke:  **  No  one  demands  that 
an  Emperor  should  never  have  any  rest,  for  that  is  above 
human  strength,  and  an  Emperor  is  just  such  a  man  as 
anybody  else;  only  he  has  been  exalted  to  his  position  by 
God  for  his  nation,  and  not  for  himself;  that,  consequently, 
he  must  use  all  his  endeavour  in  the  welfare  and  advance- 
ment of  his  nation ;  that  his  amusements  and  pleasures  ought 
to  consist  in  his  knowledge  and  vivid  representation  of  the 
great  mass  of  his  subjects  who  through  his  labours  and  cares 
enjoy  well-being  and  numberless  advantages,  and  of  the 
flourishing  condition  of  his  country  as  the  result  of  his  work, 
and  how  his  name  will  in  just  glory  redound  to  the  future 
generations."  These  are  the  exact  words  which  I  spoke  to 
his  Highness.     He  listened  to  them  very  attentively. 

September  20,  1765. — The  birthday  of  his  Imperial  High- 
ness; he  is  eleven  years  old.     His  Highness  arose  a  little 


326  The  Eighteenth  Century 

after  seven.  ...  I  was  not  yet  all  dressed,  when  he  ap- 
peared in  my  room,  took  me  by  my  hand  and  began  to  walk 
around  with  me.  I  congratulated  the  Tsar^vich  upon  his 
birthday,  and  explained  to  him  my  wishes  in  regard  to  him, 
which  were  similar  to  those  of  all  the  faithful  sons  of  the 
country.  Having  dressed  himself,  he  went  into  the  yellow 
room.  His  Reverence,  Father  Plat6n,  addressed  to  the 
Tsar6vich  a  short  congratulation,  in  which  he  presented  very 
strongly  and  wittily  our  wishes  and  hopes  in  the  progress  of 
his  Highness's  studies.  Then  his  Highness  went  into  the 
interior  apartments  to  the  Empress,  and  from  there  with 
her  Highness  to  church.  At  the  end  of  the  liturgy,  Father 
Plat6n  spoke  a  sermon  on  the  theme:  "  Settle  it  therefore 
in  your  hearts,  not  to  meditate  before  what  ye  shall  answer  " 
(Luke  xxi.  14).  The  whole  sermon  was  beautiful.  But 
especially  the  final  address  to  her  Highness  and  the  Grand 
Duke  visibly  moved  the  hearts  of  all.  Many  eyes  were  seen 
in  tears.  .  .  .  The  Empress  went  from  church  to  her 
inner  apartments,  and  his  Highness  followed  her.  As  we 
were  there  admitted  to  kiss  her  hand,  she  said  among  other 
things:  "  Father  Platon  does  with  us  what  he  wants.  If  he 
wants  us  to  weep,  we  weep;  if  he  wants  us  to  laugh,  we 
laugh." 

The    Satirical   Journals    (1769-1774),    and    Nikol&y 
Iv^novich  N6vikov.     (1744-1818.) 

The  first  attempt  at  a  periodical  was  made  as  early  as  the  year  1728, 
when  literary  essays  were  regularly  added  to  the  news  of  the  day  in 
the  5"/.  Petersburg  Gazette,  but  the  first  literary  journal  was  estab- 
lished in  1759  by  Sumar6kov  under  the  name  of  The  Industrious  Bee. 
The  example  of  Russia's  first  litterateur  was  at  once  imitated  by  a 
number  of  private  indinduals,  and  magazines  became  common, 
though  their  life  was  nearly  always  verj'  short.  In  1769  there  was 
issued  by  Grig6ri  Kozitski,  under  Catherine's  supervision,  the  first 
satirical  journal,  under  the  name  of  All  Kinds  of  Things.  During  the 
time  of  reforms,  satire  appears  as  a  natural  weapon  of  attack  against 
the  old  order  of  things,  and  there  was,  therefore,  nothing  unusual 
in  the  popularity  which  this  and  the  following  satirical  journals 


Satirical  Journals  327 

attained.  There  is,  however,  also  another  reason  for  their  appearance. 
The  English  Spectator,  Tatter  and  Rambler  were  at  that  time  well 
known  in  Russia,  and  the  literary  part  of  the  St.  Petersburg  Gazette 
brought  out  a  large  number  of  translations  from  these  English  jour- 
nals. All  Kinds  of  Things  shows  plainly  the  influence  of  Addison  in 
the  tone  of  playful  censure  which  was  to  Catherine's  liking  and  which 
it  cultivated. 

Of  the  several  satirical  periodicals  that  followed,  the  HelVs  Ibst;  or, 
Correspondence  between  the  Lame  and  the  Halt  Devils,  by  F.  Emin, 
and  the  famous  Drone,  by  N.  I.  N6vikov,  may  be  mentioned.  The 
name  of  the  latter  is  evidently  chosen  in  contradistinction  to  Sumar6- 
kov's  Industrious  Bee,  and  its  editor,  of  whose  imposing  personality 
we  shall  speak  later,  belonged  to  that  enlightened  class  of  men  who 
were  in  sympathy  with  the  most  advanced  reforms,  but  had  no  love 
for  the  flimsy  Voltairism  which  pervaded  Russian  society,  and,  like 
the  Slavophile  ShcherbStov  (see  p.  287),  thought  he  discerned  some 
stem  virtues  in  the  generations  preceding  the  reforms  of  Peter  the 
Great.  He  therefore  set  out  to  scourge  vice  wherever  he  found  it. 
The  satirical  journals  were  divided  into  two  camps :  some  clung  to  the 
mild  and  harmless  satire  of  All  Kinds  of  Things,  the  others  took  the 
Drone  for  their  model.  When  the  collaboration  of  Catherine  in 
the  first  became  known,  N6vikov  found  it  necessary  to  desist  from 
his  attacks,  to  avoid  the  displeasure  of  the  Empress,  and  soon  his 
journal  stopped  entirely.  He  later  edited  for  a  short  time  the  Painter 
and  the  Purse,  but  in  1774  all  satirical  journals  ceased  to  exbt.  The 
most  important  of  these  journals  has  been  the  Painter,  from  which  a 
generation  of  writers  drew  subjects  for  their  satire  or  comedy. 

N6vikov's  early  education  was  received  at  the  Gymnasium  con- 
nected with  the  Moscow  University;  he  was  excluded  from  it  in  1760 
for  laziness  and  insufficient  progress.  He  soon  drifted  into  literature, 
and  directed  his  attention  to  the  dissemination  of  useful  knowledge 
among  the  people.  He  developed  a  prodigious  activity  from  1772  to 
1778,  publishing  a  large  number  of  chronicles  and  documents  dealing 
with  Russian  antiquity.  In  1779  he  rented  the  University  press  for 
ten  years,  published  in  three  years  more  books  than  had  been  issued 
by  tljat  institution  in  the  preceding  twenty-four  years  of  its  existence, 
opened  bookstores  all  over  Russia  and  encouraged  and  protected  a 
whole  generation  of  young  writers.  He  was  a  zealous  Mason,  and  in 
that  capacity  practised  a  most  generous  philanthropy  by  using  the 
very  great  income  from  his  venture  for  the  establishment  of  charities 
and  schools.  Catherine  was  never  favourable  to  the  Masons  and  other 
mystics  who  had  got  a  firm  foothold  in  St.  Petersburg  and  Moscow, 
and  when  the  French  Revolution  had  broken  out,  she  suspected  such 
men  as  Radishchev  (see  p.  361)  and  N6vikov  of  belonging  to  a  secret 


328  The  Eighteenth  Century 

society  whose  object  was  the  overturning  of  the  existing  order  of 
things.  At  first  she  ordered  the  metropolitan  Plat6n  to  examine  into 
the  soundness  of  N6vikov's  religious  views,  but  the  enlightened  pre- 
late reported  :  "I  implore  the  all-merciful  God  that  not  only  in  the 
flock  which  has  been  entrusted  by  God  and  you  to  me,  but  in  the 
whole  world  there  should  be  such  good  Christians  as  N6vikov." 
Nevertheless,  Catherine  later  found  an  excuse  for  seizing  N6vikov 
and  imprisoning  him  in  the  fortress  of  Schliisselburg,  from  which  he 
was  released  by  Emperor  Paul,  who  is  said  with  tears  in  his  eyes  and 
upon  his  knees  to  have  begged  N6vikov's  forgiveness  for  his  mother's 
cruelty  to  him.    He  passed  the  rest  of  his  days  in  his  estate  of  Tikhvin. 


FROM  "ALL  KINDS  OF  THINGS" 

I  lately  went  to  dine  in  a  Moscow  suburb  with  a  friend  of 
mine.  To  my  great  displeasure  I  found  the  house  in  great 
sorrow  because  his  wife  had  had  a  bad  dream  which  threat- 
ened some  danger  to  him,  her  and  their  children.  We 
seated  ourselves  at  the  table.  Their  youngest  boy,  who  was 
sitting  at  the  end  of  the  table,  began  to  cry:  "  Mamma,  I 
shall  begin  my  problems  on  Monday. "  "  On  Monday ! ' '  ex- 
claimed his  mother:  "The  Lord  preserve  us!  Nobody 
begins  anything  new  on  Monday.  Tell  the  deacon  to  begin 
on  Tuesday."  The  lady  of  the  house  asked  me  to  pass  her 
the  salt.  I  hastened  to  do  her  the  favour,  but,  being  timid 
and  overzealous,  I  dropped  the  salt-cellar  in  passing  it.  She 
trembled  when  she  saw  the  mishap,  and  immediately  re- 
marked that  the  salt  was  spilled  in  her  direction.  Collecting 
herself  again,  she  sighed  and  said  to  her  husband:  "My 
darling,  misfortune  never  comes  single.  You  will  remember 
that  the  dove-cot  broke  down  the  same  day  our  servant  girl 
spilled  the  salt  on  the  table. "  "  Yes,  I  remember, ' '  said  her 
husband,  "  and  next  day  we  received  the  news  of  the  battle 
of  Zorndorf. ' '  I  managed  to  finish  my  dinner,  though  with 
a  heavy  heart.  The  dinner  being  over,  I  accidentally  placed 
my  knife  and  fork  crosswise  on  my  plate.  The  hostess  asked 
me  to  put  them  together.  I  soon  learned  from  the  lady's 
behaviour  that  she  looked  upon  me  as  an  odd  fellow  and 
f  oreboder  of  misfortunes. 


Satirical  Journals  329 

Gentlemen : — He  who  writes  All  Khids  of  Things  ought 
not  to  disdain  anything.  In  this  hope  I,  though  a  common 
labourer,  take  up  the  pen  without  hesitation,  thinking  that 
you  might  find  something  of  interest  in  what  I  write.  I 
have  no  intricate  style,  but  write  simply,  just  as  I  think. 

I  am  a  silversmith.  Though  I  was  not  born  here,  I  love 
Russia.  I  am  not  the  only  German  whom  it  supports.  The 
Lord  may  grant  all  to  feel  as  gratefully  to  Russia,  but  people 
feel  differently  about  that.  I  work  for  many  people,  among 
them  for  a  French  teacher.  You  know  there  are  bushels 
of  them  in  Moscow.  The  one  I  am  telling  you  about  came 
to  his  profession  in  a  strange  manner.  He  was  originally  a 
shoemaker.  Suddenly  he  was  seized  by  the  spirit  of  heroism, 
or,  to  tell  the  truth,  indolence  and  starvation  compelled  him 
to  enlist  as  a  soldier.  After  the  battle  of  Rossbach,  he  fled 
in  company  with  many  others.  He  worked  in  many  capaci- 
ties, wandering  about  from  place  to  place,  and  finally  reached 
Russia,  where  he  developed  the  proper  qualifications  for  a 
coachman.  But  he  soon  grew  tired  of  sitting  on  the  coach- 
man's seat,  and  had  a  strong  desire  of  getting  inside  the 
carriage.  He  found  no  easier  way  of  accomplishing  his 
ambition  than  by  becoming  a  teacher,  emulating  in  this  the 
example  of  many  of  his  countrymen  who,  some  from  the 
box,  like  him,  others  from  the  footman's  stand,  have  found 
their  way  into  the  carriage.  And  he  succeeded.  Thus  a 
lazy  shoemaker,  runaway  soldier  and  bad  coachman  was 
turned  into  a  first-class  teacher.  At  least  he  appears  to  me 
to  be  good  because  he  pays  promptly  for  my  work  and  does 
not  feed  me,  as  other  gentlemen  do,  with  to-morrows. 

SOUND  REASONING  ADORNS  A  MAN 

My  teacher  made  me  once  a  present  of  a  doll  on  my  name- 
day,  accompanying  it  with  the  following  noteworthy  words: 
"  Every  brainless  man  is  a  doli."  I  asked  him  whom  he 
meant  by  the  word  "  brainless,"  and  he  answered:  "  Him 
who  obeys  more  his  will  than  established  rules."  I  wanted 
to  know  why.     He  said:  "  Will  without  rule  is  licence,  and 


330  The  Eighteenth  Century 

licence  is  injurious  to  oneself  and  his  neighbour,  whereas 
rules  have  been  established  in  life  in  order  to  curb  harmful 
lusts."  I  sighed  and  said:  "Oh,  I  see,  then  our  neighbour 
committed  an  act  of  licence,  and  did  not  obey  the  established 
rules,  when  he  took  away  our  meadows  so  that  our  cattle  are 
starving."  "Our  neighbour,"  he  answered  with  a  smile, 
"  has  his  own  rules.  He  belongs  to  the  class  of  people  who 
say  every  morning:  '  Lord,  I  am  in  need  of  everything,  but 
my  neighbour  is  in  need  of  nothing.'  " 

We  paid  such  a  high  salary  to  this  teacher  that  my  step- 
mother found  it  necessary  to  dismiss  him,  in  order  to  add  one 
hundred  roubles  to  the  cook's  wages,  and  another  cheaper 
teacher  was  hired  for  me.  He  belonged  to  the  class  of 
people  who  write  in  their  will  that  they  are  to  be  buried 
without  being  washed.  His  affection  for  his  ungrateful 
country  was  so  strong  that  he  always  had  the  name  of  Paris 
in  his  mouth,  in  spite  of  the  fact  that  he  had  been  driven  out 
of  his  country  with  the  coat  of  arms  of  a  full-blown  lily  im- 
printed on  his  back.'  He  knew  by  heart  the  names  of  all 
the  streets  of  Paris,  and  the  external  walls  of  all  the  promi- 
nent buildings  of  that  city  were  familiar  to  him,  but  he  had 
never  had  the  courage  to  enter  them.  He  was  so  adorned 
with  wisdom  that  he  knew  everything  without  having 
studied  anything.  He  had  an  absolute  contempt  for  every- 
thing that  did  not  transpire  in  France.  For  other  things  he 
had  no  mind,  for  frequently,  in  a  fit  of  abstraction,  he  put 
other  people's  property  into  his  pockets,  the  result  of  which 
was  a  certain  misunderstanding,  as  he  called  it,  between  him 
and  the  police.  The  police  proved  that  he  had  stolen,  but  he 
affirmed  the  word  ' '  steal ' '  was  the  invention  of  crass  ignor- 
ance, and  that  an  honest  man  must  defend  his  honour  from 
the  police  by  means  of  the  rapier.  So  he  invited  the  com- 
missary of  police  to  fight  a  duel  with  him.  The  latter  not 
being  as  good  a  talker  as  he  was  wont  to  stick  to  incon- 
trovertible proofs,  ordered  my  mentor  to  be  cast  into  prison. 

'  French  criminals  had  the  lily  burnt  upon  their  backs,  hence  they 
wanted  to  be  buried  unwashed,  that  their  disgrace  should  not  become 
apparent. 


Satirical  Journals  331 

My  mother  was  quite  put  out  about  him,  for  she  said  she 
did  not  know  where  to  get  another  cheap  teacher  like  him. 
However,  there  arrived  at  that  time  some  guests  at  our  house 
who  assured  her  that  that  very  day  there  had  arrived  in  Mos- 
cow the  coachman  of  the  French  ambassador,  with  his  scul- 
lion, hair-dresser,  courier  and  lackey,  who  did  not  wish  to 
return  with  him,  and  that  for  the  common  good  of  the  people 
of  Moscow  they  had  the  intention  of  imparting  their  arts  to 
those  who  wanted  to  be  instructed  for  a  reasonable  considera- 
tion, though  somewhat  higher  than  the  price  they  had 
received  in  the  stable,  kitchen,  kennel,  or  for  blackening 
shoes  and  making  wigs. 

I  once  went  to  see  my  friend  and,  as  he  was  not  at  home, 
went  to  his  wife's  apartments.  She  had  stepped  down  into 
the  nursery.  As  I  am  quite  at  home  there,  I  went  down 
into  the  nursery  myself  and  found  her  surrounded  by  her 
four  children.  The  smallest  boy  started  crying;  to  pacify 
him,  his  mother  made  him  beat  the  nurse  with  a  handker- 
chief. She  pretended  she  was  crying,  while  the  mother  kept 
on  repeating  :  "  Beat  her,  my  darling,  beat  well  the  stupid 
nurse!  She  had  no  business  annoying  baby."  The  child 
was  trying  to  strike  the  nurse  hard ;  and  the  harder  he  struck 
her,  she  feigned  weeping  harder,  whereat  the  child  smiled. 
A  little  while  later,  another  child  fell  down.  The  mother 
told  it  to  spit  on  the  floor  and  to  kick  the  place  where  it  had 
stumbled.  When  I  remarked  that  it  was  not  good  education 
to  allow  the  child  to  do  that,  she  answered  me:  *'  My  friend, 
you  are  always  philosophising.  As  if  we  had  not  been  brought 
up  in  the  same  way !  Why  should  it  be  different  with  these 
babies?"  Then  I  heard  the  whining  of  a  dog.  I  looked 
around  and  saw  a  third  child  pinching  a  pup,  while  another 
child  was  frightening  a  canary  bird  by  striking  with  his 
hands  against  the  cage:  the  poor  little  bird  flitted  about 
distressed  from  one  corner  to  another.  I  lost  my  patience, 
and  told  their  mother:  "  You  are  making  tyrants  of  these 
children,  if  you  do  not  teach  them  to  respect  man  and  beast. 
I  '11  tell  your  husband  so! "  and  I  slammed  the  door  as  I 
went  out. 


332  The  Eighteenth  Century 

FROM   THE   "DRONE" 

RBCIPB  FOR  HIS  EXCELLENCY,    MR.    LACKSENSE 

This  nobleman  suffers  from  a  quotidian  fever  of  boasting 
of  his  family.  He  traces  his  family  tree  to  the  beginning 
of  the  universe,  and  hates  all  those  who  cannot  prove  their 
aristocratic  blood  at  least  five  hundred  years  back,  and 
loathes  to  speak  with  those  whose  nobility  is  only  a  hundred 
years  old  or  less.  He  shakes  with  fever  the  moment  some- 
body mentions  burghers  or  peasants  in  his  presence.  In 
opposition  to  the  modern  current  appellation,  he  does  not 
even  honour  them  with  the  name  ' '  low-born, ' '  but  in  the  fifty 
years  of  his  fruitless  life  he  has  not  yet  been  able  to  find  a 
proper  term  for  them.  He  does  not  travel  to  church  nor  in 
the  streets,  for  fear  of  a  dead  faint  which  would  unavoid- 
ably fall  upon  him  the  moment  he  met  an  ignoble  man. 
Our  patient  complains  hourly  against  fate  for  having  des- 
tined him  to  share  the  same  air,  sun  and  moon  with  the 
common  people.  He  wishes  there  were  no  other  beings 
on  the  whole  globe  but  aristocrats,  and  that  the  common 
people  should  all  be  annihilated.  He  had  repeatedly  handed 
in  projects  to  that  effect,  and  they  had  been  highly  praised 
for  the  good  and  novel  ideas  contained  therein,  though  many 
rejected  them,  because  the  inventor  demanded  three  million 
roubles  in  advance  in  order  to  execute  his  plans. 

Our  aristocrat  hates  and  loathes  all  the  sciences  and  arts, 
and  regards  them  as  a  disgrace  for  any  noble  gentleman.  In 
his  opinion  a  blueblood  can  know  everything  without  having 
learned  it;  but  philosophy,  mathematics,  phj'sics  and  all 
the  other  sciences  are  trifles  that  are  below  a  nobleman's 
attention.  Books  of  heraldry  and  letters  patent  that  have 
just  escaped  the  dust-pile  and  mould  are  the  only  books  which 
he  continually  reads  by  spelling  out.  Alexandrian  sheets, 
on  which  the  names  of  his  ancestors  are  written  in  circles, 
are  the  only  pictures  with  which  his  house  is  adorned.  But 
to  be  short;  the  trees  by  which  he  illustrates  the  descent  of 
his  family  have  many  a  dry  limb,  but  there  is  no  more  rotten 


Satirical  Journals  333 

twig  upon  them  than  he  himself  is,  and  in  all  his  family- 
coats  of  arms  there  is  not  such  a  beast  as  is  his  Excellency. 
However,  Mr.  Lacksense  thinks  differently  of  himself,  and 
worships  himself  as  a  great  man  in  mind,  and  as  a  small  god 
in  his  nobility.  To  make  the  whole  world  believe  the  same 
way,  he  tries  to  differ  from  all  others,  not  by  useful  and 
glorious  deeds,  but  by  magnificent  houses,  carriages  and 
liveries,  though  he  spends  on  his  foolishness  all  his  income 
that  ought  to  support  him  ten  years  hence. 

Recipe,  to  cure  Mr.  Lacksense  of  his  fever. — It  is  necessary 
to  inoculate  the  sick  man  with  a  good  dose  of  common  sense 
and  philanthropy,  in  order  to  kill  in  him  his  empty  super- 
ciliousness and  the  lofty  contempt  for  other  people.  Noble 
descent  is,  indeed,  a  great  privilege,  but  it  will  always  be 
dishonoured  if  it  is  not  fortified  by  personal  worth  and  noble 
services  to  your  country.  Meseems  it  is  more  laudable  to 
be  a  poor  yeoman  or  burgher  and  a  useful  member  of  society 
than  a  distinguished  drone  who  is  known  only  for  his  stupid- 
ity, his  house,  carriages  and  liveries, 

THE   LAUGHING  DEMOCRITOS 

Bah !  There  is  the  miser  in  his  rags  and  tags,  who  has  all 
his  life  been  hoarding  money  and  squandering  his  conscience; 
who  is  dying  from  hunger  and  cold;  who  teaches  his  serv- 
ants to  eat  to  live,  that  is,  not  more  than  is  necessary  to 
keep  body  and  soul  together;  who  is  known  far  and  wide  for 
his  unlawful  usury ;  who  has  imposed  upon  himself  and  all 
his  slave  cattle  a  whole  year's  fast;  who  in  winter  heats  his 
miserable  hut  only  once  a  week ;  who  is  ready  to  sell  himself 
for  a  dime,  and  who  has  forty  thousand  roubles,  in  order  to 
leave  them  after  his  death  to  his  stupid  nephew,  that  seven- 
teen-year-old wretch  who  in  miserliness  and  unscrupulous 
usury  has  surpassed  his  uncle  of  sixty  years;  who  steals 
money  from  himself  and  takes  a  fine  from  himself  for  this 
theft;  and  who  does  not  want  to  get  married  all  his  life,  only 
not  to  spend  his  income  on  his  wife  and  children.  Oh,  they 
deserve  being  laughed  at.     Ha,  ha,  ha ! 

Meseems  I  see  his  opposite.     Of  course,  it  is  Spendthrift  ? 


334  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Certainly.  Oh,  that  young  man  has  not  the  vices  of  his 
father,  but  he  is  infested  by  other  vices,  not  less  objection- 
able. His  father  hoarded  money  by  unlawful  exactions,  and 
he  spends  it  recklessly.  His  miserly  father  consumed  in  one 
month  what  he  ought  to  have  eaten  in  one  day ;  Spendthrift, 
on  the  contrary,  devours  in  a  day  what  he  ought  to  eat  up  in 
a  year.  The  other  walked  in  order  not  to  spend  money  for 
the  feeding  of  the  horses;  this  one  keeps  six  carriages  and 
six  tandems,  not  counting  the  saddle  and  sleigh  horses,  only 
that  he  may  not  get  tired  of  travelling  all  the  time  in  one  and 
the  same  carriage.  The  other  wore  for  twenty  years  the  same 
miserable  caftan;  while  to  Spendthrift  twenty  pairs  a  year 
seem  too  little.  In  short,  his  father  collected  a  great  treasure 
through  all  illegal  means,  usury,  maltreatment  of  his  kin, 
and  ruin  of  the  helpless;  but  Spendthrift  ruins  himself  and 
lavishes  on  others:  they  are  both  fools,  and  I  laugh  at  both. 
Ha,  ha,  ha,  ha! 

Who  is  galloping  there  so  swiftly  ?  Bah !  it  is  Simple. 
He  is  hurrying  to  some  aristocratic  house,  to  show  there 
his  stupidity.  Simple  glories  in  visiting  distinguished 
people.  He  goes  to  see  them  as  often  as  possible  and,  to 
please  them,  makes  a  fool  of  himself,  then  boasts  to  others  of 
the  influence  he  has  there.  He  takes  part  in  their  conversa- 
tions and,  though  he  knows  nothing,  thinks  he  is  posing  as 
a  wise  man;  he  reads  books,  but  he  does  not  understand 
them ;  goes  to  the  theatre,  criticises  the  actors  and,  repeating 
what  he  has  heard  elsewhere,  speaks  authoritatively:  this 
actor  is  good,  that  one  is  bad.  He  tells  distinguished  people 
all  kinds  of  jokes,  and  wants  to  be  cutting  in  his  remarks, 
though  he  never  adapts  them  to  the  occasion;  in  short. 
Simple  tries  to  convince  himself  that  his  acts  are  intelligent, 
but  others  think  that  they  are  silly.     Ha,  ha,  ha ! 

Hypocrite  steps  humbly  out  of  church  and  distributes  to 
the  poor  that  surround  him  a  farthing  each,  and  counts 
them  off  on  his  rosary.  As  he  walks  along,  he  mumbles  his 
prayers.  He  turns  his  eyes  away  from  women,  and  shades 
them  with  his  hands,  for  he  avers  he  would  take  them  out  if 
they  tempted  him.     Hypocrite  sins  every  minute,  but  he 


Satirical  Journals  335 

appears  as  a  righteous  man  that  walks  over  a  path  strewn 
with  thorns.  His  simulated  prayers,  piety  and  fasts  in  no 
way  keep  him  from  ruining  and  oppressing  his  like. 
Hypocrite  has  stolen  thousands,  and  he  gives  them  away  by 
farthings.  By  such  appearances  he  deceives  many.  He 
hourly  preaches  the  nine  virtues  to  young  people,  but  in  the 
sixty  years  of  his  life  he  has  never  carried  out  one  himself. 
Hypocrite  always  walks  humbly  and  never  turns  his  looks 
to  heaven,  for  he  cannot  hope  to  deceive  those  that  abide 
there;  but  he  looks  upon  the  earth'  whose  inhabitants  he 
cheats.     Ha,  ha,  ha! 

FROM  "HELIX'S  POST" 

LETTER   FROM   HALT   TO  LAME 

Last  evening  I  took  a  walk  in  the  park  where  nearly  the 
whole  town  disports  itself  twice  a  week.  I  seated  myself 
with  a  friend  on  a  bench :  four  men,  all  acquaintances  of  my 
friend,  passed  by  us;  one  of  them  was  an  ex-ofl&cer  who  had 
left  the  service,  in  order  that  he  may  not  serve  the  Tsar, 
that  he  may  cheat  the  world  and  become  rich  through  illegal 
means.  All  the  pettifoggers  and  the  minor  officials  at  the 
court  of  justice,  and  all  the  large  litigators  are  known  to 
him.  He  hardly  ever  goes  out  of  the  Land  Office,  and  even 
in  other  places  there  appears  almost  every  day  a  complaint 
of  his.  All  the  doubtful  villages  are  his,  and  he  frequently 
makes  application  for  them,  proving  that  they  once  belonged 
to  his  ancestors.  He  has  no  end  of  genealogies  in  his  pocket, 
and  upon  request  can  prove  his  descent  from  any  family  he 
pleases.  He  buys  promissory  notes  at  a  great  discount,  and 
gets  the  money  from  the  creditor  with  all  the  interest  due 
thereupon.  If  anybody  borrows  money  from  him,  he  never 
asks  more  than  five  kopeks  from  the  rouble  a  month,  and 
he  deducts  the  interest  in  advance. 

PROM   LAME  TO   HALT 

A  certain  secretary  of  a  government  office  in  this  town 


33^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

got  himself  into  trouble  by  taking  bribes,  but  he  very  soon 
freed  himself  through  his  cunning.  Although  many  orders 
explicitly  demand  that  no  bribes  should  be  received  by  ofl&c- 
ers,  yet  they  insist  that  it  is  superhuman  to  receive  nothing 
from  complainants.  Many  people  of  that  class,  however,  do 
not  submit  to  the  common  weakness  of  the  oflfice,  and  live 
on  their  incomes  and  salaries,  but  they  have  always  empty 
pockets.  Scribe  S.  is  much  richer  than  Secretary  V.  because 
the  one  sells  every  step  of  his,  while  the  other  attends  to  the 
affairs  under  his  charge  for  nothing.  Now  many  of  these 
gentlemen  have  discovered  a  secret  of  stealing  in  a  diplomatic 
way,  that  is,  they  no  longer  take  bribes  themselves,  but 
send  the  complainant  to  their  wives,  who  receive  them  very 
graciously.  If  he  is  a  merchant,  she  asks  for  some  stuffs  or 
velvet  for  a  dress.  When  the  goods  have  been  brought  to 
her  house,  she  says  to  the  merchant :  '  *  My  friend,  come  again 
in  a  few  days,  and  I  will  pay  you!  "  The  merchant  knows 
what  that  means  and,  being  in  need  of  her  husband,  goes 
home  and  for  ever  bids  good-bye  to  the  goods  he  has  fur- 
nished. If  the  complainant  is  a  nobleman,  the  oflScer's  wife 
tells  him  that  she  has  no  servant-girl,  or  boy,  and  that  she  is 
compelled  to  do  all  the  work  herself ;  and  the  complainant, 
having  of  necessity  learned  this  conventional  language,  an- 
swers her  as  she  wants  to  be  answered.  Thus,  in  the  taking 
of  bribes  there  has  been  produced  this  change:  formerly  the 
husband  was  dishonest,  now  his  wife  helps  him.  But  there 
are  some  oflBcials  who  are  even  more  cunning  and  who  steal 
in  an  honourable  manner.  They  invite  the  complainant 
who  has  any  dealing  with  them  to  dinner,  after  which  they 
sit  down  and  play  cards  with  him.  When  they  lose,  they 
assume  a  very  angry  look,  but  when  they  win,  they  look 
exceedingly  satisfied :  this  language  the  complainants  have 
soon  learned  to  understand.  To  please  the  host,  they  throw 
off  trumps  and,  losing  to  the  host,  say  two  hundred  roubles 
or  as  much  as  the  host  expects  for  the  case  in  hand,  receive 
the  next  day  a  favourable  decision  for  it.  Even  the  mer- 
chants have  become  refined  and  frequent  the  houses  of  of- 
ficials to  play  cards  with  them. 


Satirical  Journals  337 

FROM  THE  "PAINTER" 

To  My  Son  Falal6y:— 

Is  that  the  way  you  respect  your  father,  an  honourably 
discharged  captain  of  dragoons  ?  Did  I  educate  you,  accursed 
one,  that  I  should  in  my  old  age  be  made  through  you  a 
laughing-stock  of  the  whole  town  ?  I  wrote  you,  wretch,  in 
order  to  instruct  you,  and  you  had  my  letter  published. 
You  fiend,  you  have  ruined  me,  and  it  is  enough  to  make  me 
insane!  Has  such  a  thing  ever  been  heard,  that  children 
should  ridicule  their  parents  ?  Do  you  know  that  I  will 
order  you  to  be  whipped  with  the  knout,  in  strength  of 
ukases,  for  disrespect  to  your  parents!  God  and  the  Tsar 
have  given  me  this  right,  and  I  have  power  over  your  life, 
which  you  seem  to  have  forgotten.  I  think  I  have  told  you 
more  than  once  that  if  a  father  or  mother  kills  a  son,  they 
are  guilty  only  of  an  offence  against  the  church. '  My  son, 
stop  in  time !  Don't  play  a  bad  trick  upon  yourself:  it  is  not 
far  to  the  Great  Lent,  and  I  don't  mind  fasting  then.  St. 
Petersburg  is  not  beyond  the  hills,  and  I  can  reach  you  by 
going  there  myself. 

Well,  my  son,  I  forgive  you  for  the  last  time,  at  your 
mother's  request.  If  it  were  not  for  her,  you  would  have 
heard  of  me  ere  this,  nor  would  I  have  paid  attention  to  her 
now,  if  she  were  not  sick  unto  death.  Only  I  tell  you,  look 
out:  if  you  will  be  guilty  once  more  of  disrespect  to  me, 
you  need  not  expect  any  quarter  from  me.  I  am  not  of 
Sid6rovna's ''  kind :  let  me  get  at  you,  and  you  will  groan  for 
more  than  a  month. 

Now  listen,  my  son :  if  you  wish  to  come  into  my  graces 
again,  ask  for  your  resignation,  and  come  to  live  with  me  in 
the  country.  There  are  other  people  besides  you  to  serve 
in  the  army.  If  there  were  no  war  now,  I  should  not  mind 
your  serving,  but  it  is  now  wartime,  and  you  might  be  sent 
into  the  field,  which  might  be  the  end  of  you.  There  is  a 
proverb:  "  Pray  to  God,  but  look  out  for  yourself" ;  so  you 

For  which  the  punishment  would  be  a  penance  of  fasting. 
*  His  wife's  name. 

VOL.  I. — 2a. 


33^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

had  better  get  out  of  the  way,  which  will  do  you  more  good. 
Ask  for  your  discharge  and  come  home  to  eat  and  sleep  as 
much  as  you  want,  and  you  will  have  no  work  to  do.  What 
more  do  you  want  ?  My  dear,  it  is  a  hard  chase  you  have 
to  give  after  honour.  Honour!  Honour!  It  is  not  much 
of  an  honour,  if  you  have  nothing  to  eat.  Suppose  you  will 
get  no  decoration  of  St.  George,  but  you  will  be  in  better 
health  than  all  the  cavaliers  of  the  order  of  St.  George. 
There  are  many  young  people  who  groan  in  spite  of  their 
St.  George,  and  many  older  ones  who  scarcely  live:  one  has 
his  hands  all  shot  to  pieces,  another  his  legs,  another  his 
head:  is  it  a  pleasure  for  parents  to  see  their  sons  so  dis- 
figured ?    And  not  one  g^rl  will  want  you  for  a  husband. 

By  the  way,  I  have  found  a  wife  for  you.  She  is  pretty 
well  off,  knows  how  to  read  and  write,  but,  above  all,  is  a 
good  housekeeper:  not  a  blessed  thing  is  lost  with  her. 
That  's  the  kind  of  a  wife  I  have  found  for  you.  May  God 
grant  you  both  good  counsel  and  love,  and  that  they  should 
give  you  your  dismissal!  Come  back,  my  dear:  you  will 
have  enough  to  live  on  outside  of  the  wife's  dowry,  for  I 
have  laid  by  a  nice  little  sum.  I  forgot  to  tell  you  that 
your  fianc6e  is  a  cousin  of  our  Governor.  That,  my  friend, 
is  no  small  matter,  for  all  our  cases  at  law  will  be  decided  in 
our  favour,  and  we  will  swipe  the  lands  of  our  neighbours 
up  to  their  very  barns.  I  tell  you  it  will  be  a  joy,  and  they 
won't  have  enough  land  left  to  let  their  chickens  out.  And 
then  we  will  travel  to  the  city,  and  I  tell  you,  my  dear 
Falal6y,  we  are  going  to  have  a  fine  time,  and  people  will 
have  to  look  out  for  us.  But  why  should  I  instruct  you  ? 
You  are  not  a  baby  now,  it  is  time  for  you  to  use  your 
senses. 

You  see  I  am  not  your  ill-wisher  and  teach  you  nothing 
but  that  is  good  for  you  and  that  will  make  you  live  in  greater 
comfort.  Your  uncle  Ermoldy  gives  you  the  same  advice ; 
he  had  intended  to  write  to  you  by  the  same  messenger. 
We  have  discussed  these  matters  quite  often,  while  sitting 
under  your  favourite  oak  where  you  used  to  pass  your  time 
as  a  child,  hanging  dogs  on  the  branches,  if  they  did  not 


Satirical  Journals  339 

hunt  well  for  the  rabbits,  and  whipping  the  hunters,  if  their 
dogs  outran  yours.  What  a  joker  you  used  to  be  when  you 
were  younger!  We  used  to  split  with  laughter  looking  at 
you.  Pray  to  God,  my  friend !  You  have  enough  sense  to 
get  along  nicely  in  this  world. 

Don't  get  frightened,  dear  Falaley,  all  is  not  well  in 
our  house:  your  mother,  Akulina  Sid6rovna,  is  lying  on  her 
death-bed.  Father  Ivdn  has  confessed  her  and  given  her  the 
extreme  unction.  It  is  one  of  your  dogs  that  was  the  cause 
of  her  ailment.  Somebody  hit  your  Naletka  with  a  stick  of 
wood  and  broke  her  back.  When  she,  my  little  dove,  heard 
that,  she  fainted  away,  and  fell  down  like  dead.  When  she 
came  to  again,  she  started  an  inquiry  into  the  matter,  which 
so  exhausted  her  that  she  came  back  scarcely  alive,  and 
had  to  lie  in  bed.  Besides,  she  emptied  a  whole  pitcher  of 
cold  water,  which  gave  her  a  fever.  Your  mother  is  ill,  my 
friend,  very  ill !  I  am  waiting  every  minute  for  God  to  take 
her  soul  away.  So  I  shall  have  to  part,  dear  Falaley,  from 
my  wife,  and  you  from  your  mother  and  Naletka.  It  will 
be  easier  for  you  to  bear  the  loss  than  for  me :  Nal6tka's  pups, 
thank  the  Lord !  are  all  alive.  Maybe  one  of  them  will  take 
after  his  mother,  but  I  shall  never  have  such  a  wife  again. 

Alas,  I  am  all  undone !  How  can  I  ever  manage  to  look 
after  all  things  myself?  Cause  me  no  more  sorrow,  but 
come  home  and  get  married,  then  I  shall  at  least  be  happy 
to  have  a  daughter-in-law.  It  is  hard,  my  dear  Falal6y,  to 
part  from  my  wife,  for  I  have  got  used  to  her,  having  lived 
with  her  for  thirty  years.  I  am  guilty  before  her  for  having 
beaten  her  so  often  in  her  lifetime ;  but  how  could  it  be  other- 
wise? Two  pots  staying  a  long  time  together  will  get 
knocked  a  great  deal  against  each  other.  Indeed  it  could 
not  be  otherwise:  I  am  rather  violent,  and  she  is  not  yield- 
ing; and  thus,  the  least  thing  gave  occasion  for  fights. 
Thank  the  Lord!  she  was  at  least  forgiving.  Learn,  my 
son,  to  live  well  with  your  wife ;  though  we  have  had  many 
a  quarrel,  yet  we  are  living  together,  and  now  I  am  sorry 
for  her.  It 's  too  bad,  my  friend,  the  fortune-tellers  cannot 
do  your  mother  any  good :  there  have  been  a  lot  of  them  here, 


340  The  Eighteenth  Century 

but  there  is  no  sense  in  it,  only  money  thrown  away.  And 
now  I,  your  father,  Trif6n,  greet  you  and  send  you  my  bless- 
ing. 

My  Darling  Falaley  Trif6novich: — 

What  kind  of  tricks  have  you  been  playing  there,  darling 
of  my  heart  ?  You  are  only  ruining  yourself.  You  have 
known  Pankrdtevich  ere  this,  so  why  don't  you  take  care  of 
yourself?  If  you,  poor  wretch,  got  into  his  hands,  he  would 
maim  you  beyond  mercy.  There  is  no  use  denying  it, 
Falal6y,  he  has  a  diabolical  character,  the  I^ord  forgive  me 
for  saying  so!  When  he  gets  into  a  temper,  all  my  trying  to 
soothe  him  does  no  good.  When  he  begins  to  yell,  it 's  a 
shame  to  leave  the  holy  images  in  the  room.  And  you,  my 
friend,  just  think  what  you  have  done!  You  have  given  his 
letter  to  be  published!  All  his  neighbours  are  now  making 
fun  of  him:  "A  fine  son  you  have!  He  is  ridiculing  his 
father."  They  say  a  great  deal  more,  but  who  can  know 
all  that  the  evil-minded  people  say  ?  God  help  them,  they 
have  their  own  children  to  look  to,  and  God  will  pay  them 
their  due.  They  always  find  fault  with  somebody  else's 
children,  and  think  that  theirs  are  faultless:  well,  they  had 
better  take  a  closer  look  at  their  own  children! 

Take  good  care  of  yourself,  my  friend,  and  don't  anger 
your  father,  for  the  devil  could  not  get  along  with  him. 
Write  him  a  kind  letter,  and  lie  yourself  out  of  the  affair: 
that  would  not  be  a  great  sin,  for  you  would  not  be  deceiving 
a  stranger.  All  children  are  guilty  of  some  misbehaviour, 
and  how  can  they  get  along  without  telling  their  fathers  some 
lie  ?  Fathers  and  mothers  do  not  get  very  angrj'  with 
children  for  that,  for  they  are  of  necessity  their  friends. 
God  grant  you,  darling  of  my  heart,  good  health ! 

I  am  on  my  death-bed ;  so  do  not  kill  me  before  my  time, 
but  come  to  us  at  once,  that  I  may  have  my  last  look  at  you. 
My  friend,  I  am  feeling  bad,  quite  bad.  Cheer  me  up,  my 
shining  light,  for  you  are  my  only  one,  the  apple  of  my  eye, 
— how  can  I  help  loving  you  ?  If  I  had  many  children,  it 
would  not  be  so  bad.     Try  to  find  me  alive,  my  dear  one: 


Denis  Ivanovich  Fon-Vizin  341 

I  will  bless  you  with  your  angel,  and  will  give  you  all  my 
money  which  I  have  hoarded  up  in  secret  from  Pankrdtevich, 
and  which  is  for  you,  my  shining  light. 

Your  father  gives  you  but  little  money,  and  you  are  yet 
a  young  boy,  and  you  ought  to  have  dainty  bits  and  a 
good  time.  You,  my  friend,  are  yet  of  an  age  to  enjoy 
yourself,  just  as  we  did  when  we  were  young.  Have  a 
good  time,  my  friend,  have  a  good  time,  for  there  will  later 
come  a  time  when  you  will  not  think  of  enjoyment.  My 
dear  Falal^y,  I  send  you  one  hundred  roubles,  but  don't 
write  father  about  it.  I  send  it  to  you  without  his  know- 
ledge, and  if  he  found  it  out,  he  would  give  me  no  rest. 
Fathers  are  always  that  way:  they  only  know  how  to  be 
surly  with  their  children,  and  they  never  think  of  comforting 
them.  But  I,  my  child,  have  the  heart  not  of  a  father,  but 
of  a  mother:  I  would  gladly  part  with  my  last  kopek,  if 
that  would  add  to  your  pleasure  and  health. 

My  dear  Falal6y  Trifonovich,  my  beloved  child,  my  shining 
light,  my  clever  son,  I  am  not  feeling  well!  It  will  be  hard 
for  me  to  go  away  from  you.  To  whose  care  shall  I  leave 
you?  That  fiend  will  ruin  you;  that  old  brute  will  maim 
you  some  day.  Take  good  care  of  yourself,  my  shining 
light,  take  the  best  care  you  can  of  yourself!  Leave  him 
alone,  for  you  can't  do  anything  with  that  devil,  the  Lord 
forgive  me  for  saying  so !  Come  to  our  estate,  my  dear  one, 
as  soon  as  you  can.  Let  me  get  a  look  at  you,  for  my  heart 
has  the  presentiment  that  my  end  has  come.  Good-bye,  my 
dear  one,  good-bye,  my  shining  light:  I,  your  mother 
Akulina  Sidorovna,  send  you  my  blessing  and  my  humblest 
greeting,  my  shining  light.  Good-bye,  my  dove:  do  not 
forget  me! 

Denis  Ivdnovich  Fon-Vizin.    (1744-1792.) 

Denfs  Fon-Vizin  tells  ns  in  his  Confession  (given  below)  what  his 
early  education  was.  Even  the  Moscow  University  was  filled  with 
ignorant,  corrupt  t&achers,  and  in  the  country  the  conditions  were 
naturally  much  worse.  Nor  could  it  have  been  diflferent  in  the  early 
part  of  Catherine's  reign.  The  older  generation  was  steeped  in  ignor- 
ance and  superstition,  and  the  upper  classes,  who  carried  Voltaire 


342  The  Eighteenth  Century 

and  liberalism  on  their  lips,  ranted  of  a  culture  of  the  heart,  which 
was  nothing  else  than  an  excuse  for  extreme  superficiality,  as  some- 
thing superior  to  culture  of  the  mind.  Such  a  period  is  naturally 
productive  of  characters  for  comedy  and  satire.  Fon-Vizin,  who  had 
the  talent  for  satirical  observation,  was  himself  a  product  of  the 
superficiality  of  his  time.  In  his  letters  from  abroad  he  assumed  a 
haughty  air  of  Russian  superiority  over  matters  French,  German  and 
European  in  general,  aiding  in  the  evolution  of  a  sickly  Slavophilism 
which  a  Russian  critic  has  characterised  as  "subacid  patriotism." 
Unfortunately  for  their  originality,  most  of  these  attacks  on  the 
French  and  Germans  are  taken  from  French  and  German  sources. 

Fon-Vizin  wrote  two  comedies.  The  Brigadier  and  The  Minor, 
both  of  which  are  regarded  as  classical.  Neither  the  subjects  nor  the 
plots  are  original.  They  follow  French  plays  ;  but  Fon-Vizin  has  so 
excellently  adapted  them  to  the  conditions  of  his  time,  and  has  so 
well  portrayed  the  negative  characters  of  contemporary  society,  that 
the  comedies  serve  as  an  historical  document  of  the  time  of  Catherine 
II.  How  true  to  nature  his  Ciphers,  Beastlys,  Uncouths  and  Briga- 
diers are  may  be  seen  from  a  perusal  of  contemporary  memoirs  and 
the  satirical  journals.  These  give  an  abundance  of  such  material, 
and  indeed  Fon-Vizin  has  made  ample  use  of  them.  As  there  were  no 
positive  characters  in  society,  so  the  characters  of  his  plaj-s  that 
stand  for  right  and  justice  are  nothing  more  than  wordy  shadows. 

In  The  Minor,  of  which  the  first  act  is  here  translated,  the  author 
gives  a  picture  of  the  lower  nobility,  who  had  not  yet  outgrown  the 
barbarism  of  the  days  preceding  Peter's  reforms,  though  anxious  to 
comply,  at  least  outwardly,  with  the  imperative  demands  of  the 
Government.  Peter  the  Great  had  promulgated  a  law  that  all  the 
children  of  the  nobility  must  immediately  appear  to  inscribe  them- 
selves for  service.  These  "  minors"  had  to  present  a  proof  or  certifi- 
cate that  they  had  received  instruction  in  certain  prescribed  subjects. 
Without  that  certificate  they  could  not  enter  any  service,  or  get 
married.  Up  to  the  time  of  Catherine  II.  there  were  issued  laws 
dealing  with  such  "minors."  Mitrofdn,  the  "minor"  of  the  play, 
has  become  the  nickname  for  every  grown-up  illiterate  son  of  the 
nobility. 

THE  MINOR 

ACT  I.,  SCKNB  I.      MRS.  UNCOUTH,  MlTROPiN,  EREMY^EVNA 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {examining  Mttrof tin's  caftan').  The  caftan 
is  all  ruined.  Eremy^vna,  bring  here  that  thief  Trishka ! 
{Exit  Eremyeevna,)    That  rascal  has  made  it  too  tight  all 


Denis  Iv4novich  Fon-Vizin  343 

around.  Mitrofdn,  my  sweet  darling,  you  must  feel  dread- 
fully uncomfortable  in  your  caftan !  Go  call  father.  {Exit 
Mitrofdn.') 

SCENE   2.      MRS.  UNCOUTH,  EREMY^EVNA,  TRISHKA 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {to  Trishkd).  You  beast,  come  here.  Did  n't 
I  tell  you,  you  thief  s  snout,  to  make  the  caftan  wide  enough  ? 
In  the  first  place,  the  child  is  growing;  in  the  second  place, 
the  child  is  delicate  enough,  without  wearing  a  tight  caftan. 
Tell  me,  you  clod,  what  is  your  excuse  ? 

Trishka.  You  know,  madam,  I  never  learned  tailoring. 
I  begged  you  then  to  give  it  to  a  tailor. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  So  you  have  got  to  be  a  tailor  to  be  able  to 
make  a  decent  caftan !     What  beastly  reasoning ! 

Trishka.  But  a  tailor  has  learned  how  to  do  it,  madam, 
and  I  haven't. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  How  dare  you  contradict  me!  One  tailor 
has  learned  it  from  another;  that  one  from  a  third,  and  so 
on.     But  from  whom  did  the  first  tailor  learn  ?    Talk,  stupid ! 

Trishka.  I  guess  the  first  tailor  made  a  worse  caftan 
than  I. 

Mitrofdn  {running  in^.  I  called  dad.  He  sent  word 
he  '11  be  here  in  a  minute. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Go  fetch  him  by  force,  if  you  can't  by 
kindness. 

Mitrofdn.  Here  is  dad. 

SCENE  3.      THE  SAME  AND  UNCOUTH 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  You  have  been  hiding  from  me !  Now  see 
yourself,  sir,  what  I  have  come  to  through  your  indulgence! 
What  do  you  think  of  our  son's  new  dress  for  his  uncle's 
betrothal  ?  What  do  you  think  of  the  caftan  that  Trishka 
has  gotten  up  ? 

Uncouth  {timidly  stammering).  A  li-ittle  baggy. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  You  are  baggy  yourself,  you  wiseacre! 

Uncouth.  I  thought,  wifey,  that  you  thought  that  way. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Are  you  blind  yourself  ? 


344  The  Eighteentl)  Century 

Uncouth.  My  eyes  see  nothing  by  the  side  of  yours. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  A  fine  husband  the  L,ord  has  blessed  me 
with!  He  can't  even  make  out  what  is  loose  and  what 
tight. 

Uncouth.  I  have  always  relied  upon  you  in  such  matters, 
and  rely  even  now. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  You  may  rely  also  upon  this,  that  I  will  not 
let  the  churls  do  as  they  please.  Go  right  away,  sir,  and  tell 
them  to  flog 

SCENE  4.      THE  SAME  AND  BEASTLY 

Beastly.  Whom  ?  For  what  ?  On  the  day  of  my  betrothal ! 
I  beg  you,  sister,  for  the  sake  of  the  celebration,  put  off  the 
flogging  until  to-morrow,  and  to-morrow,  if  you  wish,  I  '11 
gladly  take  a  hand  in  it  myself.  My  name  is  not  Taras 
Beastly,  if  I  don't  make  every  offence  a  serious  matter.  In 
such  things  my  custom  is  the  same  as  yours,  sister.  But 
what  has  made  you  so  angry  ? 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Here,  brother,  I  '11  leave  it  to  you.  Mi- 
trofdn,  just  come  here!     Is  this  caftan  baggy  ? 

Beastly.  No. 

Uncouth.  I  see  now  myself,  wifey,  that  it  is  too  tight. 

Beastly.  But  I  don't  see  that.  My  good  fellow,  the  caftan 
is  just  right. 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {to  Trishkd).  Get  out,  you  beast!  {To 
Eremyievna.)  Go,  Eremy^evna,  and  give  the  child  his  break- 
fast.    I  am  afraid  the  teachers  will  soon  be  here. 

Eremyievna.  My  lady,  he  has  deigned  to  eat  five  rolls  ere 
this. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  So  you  are  too  stingy  to  g^ve  him  the 
sixth,  you  beast  ?    What  zeal !     I  declare ! 

Eremyievna.  I  meant  it  for  his  health,  my  lady.  I  am 
looking  out  for  Mitrofdn  Ter^ntevich:  he  has  been  ill  all 
night. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Oh,  Holy  Virgin !  What  was  the  matter 
with  you,  darling  Mitrofdn  ? 

Mitrofdn.  I  don't  know  what,  mamma.  I  was  bent  with 
pain  ever  since  last  night's  supper. 


Denis  Ivanovich  Fon-Vizin  345 

Beastly.  My  good  fellow,  I  guess  you  have  had  too  solid 
a  supper. 

Mitrofdn.  Why,  uncle!     I  have  eaten  hardly  anything. 

Uncouth.  If  I  remember  rightly,  my  dear,  you  did  have 
something. 

Mitrofdn.  Not  much  of  anything:  some  three  slices  of 
salt  bacon,  and  five  or  six  pies,  I  do  not  remember  which. 

Eremyievna.  He  kept  on  begging  for  something  to  drink 
all  night  long.     He  deigned  to  empty  a  pitcher  of  kvas. 

Mitrofdn.  And  even  now  I  am  walking  around  distracted. 
All  kinds  of  stuff  passed  before  my  eyes  all  night  long. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  What  kind  of  stuff,  darling  Mitrofdn  ? 

Mitrofdn.  At  times  you,  mamma,  at  others — dad. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  How  so  ? 

Mitrofdn.  No  sooner  did  I  close  my  eyes,  than  I  saw  you, 
mamma,  drubbing  dad. 

Uncouth  {aside).  It  is  my  misfortune,  the  dream  has  come 
to  pass ! 

Mitrofdn  {tenderly).  And  I  felt  so  sorry. 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {angrily).  For  whom,  Mitrofdn  ? 

Mitrofdn.  For  you,  mamma:  you  got  so  tired  drubbing 
dad. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Embrace  me,  darling  of  my  heart!  Son, 
you  are  my  comfort. 

Beastly.  I  see,  Mitrofan,  you  are  mother's  son  and  not 
father's. 

Uncouth.  I  love  him  anj'way  as  becomes  a  father:  he  is 
such  a  clever  child,  such  a  joker!  I  am  often  beside  myself 
with  joy  when  I  look  at  him,  and  I  can't  believe  that  he  is 
my  own  son. 

Beastly.  Only  now  our  joker  looks  a  little  gloomy. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Had  I  not  better  send  to  town  for  the 
doctor  ? 

Mitrofdn.  No,  no,  mamma.  I  '11  get  well  myself.  I  '11 
run  now  to  the  dove-cot,  maybe 

Mrs,  Uncouth.  Maybe  God  will  be  merciful.  Go,  have  a 
good  time,  darling  Mitrofdn.  {Exeunt  Mitrofdn  and  Ere- 
myievna.') 


34^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

SCKNB   5.      MRS.  UNCOUTH,  UNCOUTH,  BEASTI^Y 

Beastly.  Why  do  I  not  see  my  fianc6e  ?  Where  is  she  ? 
The  betrothal  is  to  be  this  evening,  so  it  is  about  time  to  let 
her  know  that  she  is  to  be  married  soon. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  There  is  time  for  that,  brother.  If  we  were 
to  tell  her  that  ahead  of  time,  she  might  get  it  into  her  head 
that  we  are  reporting  to  her  as  to  a  superior  person.  Al- 
though I  am  related  to  her  through  my  husband,  yet  I  love 
even  strangers  to  obey  me. 

Uncouth  {to  Beastly).  To  tell  the  truth,  we  have  treated 
Sophia  like  a  real  orphan.  She  was  but  a  baby  when  her 
father  died.  It  is  now  half  a  j'ear  since  her  mother,  who 
is  related  to  me  by  marriage,  had  an  apoplectic  fit 

Mrs.  Uncouth  (as  if  making  the  sign  of  the  cross).  The 
Lord  be  with  us  ! 

Uncouth.  — which  took  her  to  the  other  world.  Her  uncle, 
Mr.  Conser\'ative,  has  gone  to  Siberia,  and  as  there  has 
been  no  news  from  him  for  some  years  we  regard  him  as 
dead.  Seeing  that  she  was  left  alone,  we  took  her  to  our 
village,  and  we  watch  her  property  like  our  own. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  What  makes  you  talk  so  much  to-day, 
husband  ?  My  brother  might  think  that  we  took  her  to  our 
house  for  our  own  interest. 

Uncouth.  How  could  he  think  so?  We  can't  move  up 
Sophia's  property  to  ours. 

Beastly.  Even  if  her  movable  property  has  been  removed, 
I  won't  go  to  law  for  that.  I  don't  like  the  law  courts,  and 
I  am  afraid  of  them.  No  matter  how  much  my  neighbours 
have  insulted  me,  no  matter  how  much  damage  they  have 
done  me,  I  have  never  had  any  litigations  with  them. 
Rather  than  have  trouble  with  them,  I  make  my  peasants 
suffer  for  the  damages  my  neighbours  do  me,  and  that 's  the 
end  of  it. 

Uncouth.  That  is  so,  brother.  The  whole  district  says  that 
you  are  a  great  hand  at  getting  work  out  of  your  peasants. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  I  wish,  brother,  you  would  teach  us  to  do 
likewise,  for  since  we  have  taken  everything  away  from  the 


Denis  Ivanovich  Fon-Vizin  347 

peasants  that  they  had,  there  is  nothing  left  with  them  which 
we  can  carry  off.     It  's  a  real  misfortune! 

Beastly.  I  don't  mind,  sister,  giving  you  a  lesson,  only 
first  marry  me  to  Sophia. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Have  you  really  taken  a  liking  to  the  giri  ? 

Beastly.  No,  it  is  not  the  girl  I  like. 

Uncouth.  Then  it  is  her  adjoining  villages  ? 

Beastly.  Not  even  her  villages;  but  that  which  is  to  be 
found  in  her  villages,  and  for  which  I  have  a  great  passion. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  What  is  it,  brother  ? 

Beastly.  I  like  the  pigs,  sister.  Down  our  way  there  are 
some  very  big  pigs:  why,  there  is  not  one  among  them  that 
if  it  stood  up  on  its  hind  legs  would  not  be  a  head  taller  than 
any  of  us. 

Uncouth.  Now,  brother,  this  is  a  wonderful  family  re- 
semblance. Our  dear  Mitrofan  is  just  like  his  uncle:  he  has 
had  the  same  passion  for  pigs  ever  since  babyhood.  He  was 
only  three  years  old  when  he  would  tremble  with  joy  every 
time  he  saw  a  pig. 

Beastly.  Truly  wonderful!  All  right:  Mitrofdn  loves  pigs 
because  he  is  my  nephew.  There  is  some  resemblance  there. 
But  why  have  I  such  a  passion  for  pigs  ? 

Uncouth.  There  must  be  some  resemblance  there  too, 
that  's  what  I  think. 

SCENE  6.      THE  SAME  AND  SOPHIA 

{Sophia  enters  holding  a  letter  in  her  hand  and  looking 
cheerful.^ 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {to  Sophia).  Why  so  merry,  dear?  What 
has  made  you  so  happy  ? 

Sophia.  I  have  just  received  some  joyful  news.  My  uncle, 
of  whom  we  have  not  heard  for  a  long  time,  whom  I  love  and 
honour  like  my  father,  arrived  in  Moscow  a  few  days  ago. 
This  is  the  letter  I  have  just  received  from  him. 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {frightened,  angrily').  What,  Conservative, 
your  uncle,  is  alive  ?  And  you  think  it  right  to  jest  about 
his  resurrection  ?    A  fine  story  you  have  invented ! 

Sophia.  Why,  he  never  was  dead. 


34^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  He  did  not  die!  Why  could  he  not  have 
died  ?  No,  madam,  that  is  your  invention.  You  are  trying 
to  frighten  us  with  your  uncle,  that  we  might  give  you  your 
liberty.  You  j  udge  like  this :  ' '  My  uncle  is  a  clever  man ; 
he  seeing  me  in  other  people's  hands,  will  find  a  way  of 
rescuing  me."  That  's  what  you  are  happy  about,  madam. 
But  your  joy  is  all  in  vain:  of  course,  your  uncle  has  never 
thought  of  rising  from  the  dead. 

Beastly.  Sister,  but  if  he  never  died  ? 

Uncouth.  God  be  merciful  to  us,  if  he  did  not  die. 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {to  her  husband').  How  not  dead  ?  You  are 
talking  nonsense.  Don't  you  know  that  I  have  had  people 
remember  him  in  their  prayers  for  the  rest  of  his  soul  ?  Is 
it  possible  my  humble  prayers  have  never  reached  heaven  ? 
{To  Sophia.)  You  let  me  have  that  letter!  {Almost  tears  it 
out  of  her  hand.)  I  will  wager  anything  that  it  is  some  love 
letter,  and  I  can  guess  from  whom.  It  's  from  that  ofl&cer 
that  was  trying  to  marry  you,  and  whom  you  were  ready  to 
marry  yourself.  Who  is  that  rascal  that  dares  hand  you 
letters  without  telling  me  first  about  them  ?  I  '11  get  at 
him!  That  's  what  we  have  come  to:  they  write  letters  to 
girls!    And  girls  know  how  to  read ! 

Sophia.  Read  it  yourself,  madam :  you  will  see  that  there 
can  be  nothing  more  harmless  than  that  letter. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  "  Read  it  yourself !  "  No,  madam!  Thank 
the  Lord,  I  have  not  been  educated  that  way !  I  may  receive 
letters,  but  I  order  others  to  read  them  to  me.  (  To  her  hus- 
band.)   Read  it! 

Uncouth  {looking  at  it  for  some  time).  It 's  more  than  I  can 
read. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  I  see,  they  have  educated  you  like  a  fair 
maiden.     Brother,  be  so  kind  as  to  read  it. 

Beastly.  I  ?  I  have  never  read  a  line  since  I  was  bom  I 
God  has  saved  me  that  annoyance. 

Sophia.  Let  me  read  it  to  you. 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  I  know  you  will  read  it,  but  I  don't  trust 
you.  There!  Mitrofdn's  teacher  will  soon  be  here,  so  I  '11 
tell  him 


Denis  Ivinovich  Fon-Vizin  349 

Beastly.  So  you  have  begun  to  teach  your  son  reading  ? 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Oh,  my  brother!  He  has  been  studying 
these  four  years.  It  shall  not  be  laid  to  our  door  that  we  are 
not  giving  Mitrof dn  an  education :  we  pay  three  teachers  for 
it.  The  deacon  from  Pokrov,  Carouse,  comes  to  him  for 
reading  and  writing.  Arikmethick  he  studies  with  an  ex- 
sergeant.  Cipher.  They  both  come  from  town,  which  is  only 
two  miles  from  us.  French  and  all  the  sciences  he  takes 
from  a  German,  Adam  Addmych  Bluster.  He  gets  three 
hundred  roubles  a  year.  We  let  him  eat  at  table  with  us; 
our  peasant  women  wash  his  linen;  if  he  has  to  travel  any- 
where, he  gets  our  horses;  at  the  table  he  always  has  a  glass 
of  wine,  and  at  night  a  tallow  candle,  and  Fomka  fixes  his 
wig  for  nothing.  To  tell  the  truth,  we  are  satisfied  with 
him,  for  he  does  not  drive  our  child.  I  don't  see,  anyway, 
why  we  should  not  fondle  Mitrofdn  as  long  as  he  is  a  minor. 
He  will  have  to  sufiFer  enough  some  ten  years  hence,  when 
serving  the  Government.  You  know,  brother,  some  people 
have  luck  from  their  birth.  Take  our  family  of  Uncouths: 
they  get  all  kinds  of  advancements  while  lying  softly  on  their 
sides.  With  what  is  our  Mitrofdn  worse  than  they  ?  Ah, 
there  is  our  dear  guest. 

SCENE   7.      THE  SAME  AND  TRUTHFUI, 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Brother,  I  recommend  to  you  our  dear 
guest,  Mr.  Truthful;  and  to  you,  sir,  I  recommend  my 
brother. 

Truthful.  Am  glad  to  make  your  acquaintance. 

Beastly.  Very  well,  sir.  What  is  your  name  ?  I  did  not 
quite  hear  it. 

Truthful.  My  name  is  Truthful,  so  that  you  may  hear  it. 

Beastly.  Where  born,  sir  ?     Where  are  your  villages  ? 

Truthful.  I  was  born  in  Moscow,  if  you  must  know  that, 
and  my  villages  are  in  this  province. 

Beastly.  And  may  I  ask  you, — I  do  not  know  your  name 
and  patronymic, — are  there  any  pigs  in  your  villages  ? 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  Now,  stop,  brother,  asking  about  your  pigs. 
We  had  better  talk  about  our  trouble.     {To   Truthful.^ 


350  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Listen,  sir!  By  God's  command  we  have  taken  this  maiden 
upon  our  hands.  She  deigns  to  receive  letters  from  her 
uncles:  you  see,  her  uncles  write  to  her  from  heaven.  Do 
us  the  kindness,  sir,  and  read  us  this  letter  aloud. 

Truthful.  Excuse  me,  madam,  I  never  read  letters  without 
the  permission  of  those  to  whom  they  have  been  addressed. 

Sophia.  On  the  contrary,  I  beg  you  to  do  me  the  favour. 

Truthful.  If  you  so  order.     (//<?  reads.) 

"  Dear  niece!  My  affairs  have  compelled  me  to  live  for 
some  years  away  from  my  relatives,  and  the  great  distance 
has  deprived  me  of  the  pleasure  of  hearing  any  news  from 
you.  I  am  now  living  in  Moscow  after  having  been  for  some 
years  in  Siberia.  I  am  a  living  example  that  it  is  possible  by 
work  and  honesty  to  gain  some  wealth.  By  these  means, 
fortune  smiling  upon  me,  I  have  saved  up  enough  to  have 
ten  thousand  roubles  j'early  income " 

Beastly  and  the  Uncouths.  Ten  thousand ! 

Truthful  (reads).  "  Of  which  I  make  you,  dear  niece,  my 
sole  heiress " 

Mrs.  Uncouth.  You  an  heiress !  ^ 

Uncouth.  Sophia  an  heiress!       >  {All  together.) 

Beastly.  Her  an  heiress!  ) 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {hastening  to  embrace  Sophia).  I  congratu- 
late you,  Sophia !  I  congratulate  you,  my  darling !  I  am 
beside  myself  with  joy !  Now  you  need  a  husband.  I,  I 
could  not  wish  a  better  bride  for  my  Mitrofdn.  That 's  what 
I  call  a  fine  uncle!  A  real  father!  I  always  thought  that 
God  was  taking  care  of  him,  that  he  was  still  alive. 

Beastly  (stretching  out  his  hand).  Well,  sister,  let  us  settle 
it  right  away. 

Mrs.  Uncouth  {whispering  to  Beastly).  Wait,  brother,  first 
we  have  to  ask  her  whether  she  wants  you. 

Beastly.  What  a  question !  Or  do  you  really  want  to  re- 
port to  her  as  to  a  superior  person  ? 

Truthful.  Do  you  want  me  to  finish  the  letter  ? 

Beastly.  What  for?  Even  if  you  were  to  keep  on  reading 
for  five  years  you  could  not  read  out  of  it  anything  better 
than  ten  thousand. 


Denis  Ivinovich  Fon-Vizin  351 

Mrs.  Uncouth  (to  Sophia).  Sophia,  my  darling!  Come 
with  me  to  my  sleeping- room.  I  have  some  important  mat- 
ter to  talk  to  you  about  (leading  Sophia  out). 

Beastly.  Pshaw!  I  see  there  is  not  much  chance  for  a 
betrothal  to-day ! 

SCEN:B  8.      TRUTHFUIv,  UNCOUTH,  BEASTLY,  A  SERVANtP 

Servant  (to  Uncouth,  out  of  breath).  Sir,  sir !  Soldiers  have 
come;  they  have  stopped  in  our  village. 

Uncouth.  There  is  a  misfortune !  They  will  ruin  us  com- 
pletely. 

Truthful.  What  frightens  you  so  ? 

Uncouth.  Oh,  I  have  seen  terrible  things,  and  I  am  afraid 
to  show  up  before  them. 

Truthful.  Don't  be  afraid.  Of  course,  an  oflScer  is  leading 
them,  and  he  will  not  permit  any  insolence.  Come,  let  us 
go  to  him.  I  am  confident  you  are  unnecessarily  frightened. 
(Truthful,  Uncouth  and  Servant  exeunt.) 

Beastly.  They  have  all  left  me  alone.  I  think  I  '11  take  a 
walk  in  the  cattle  yard. 

End  of  Act  I. 

AN  OPEN-HEARTED  CONFESSION  OF  MY  ACTS 
AND  THOUGHTS 

My  parents  were  pious  people,  but  as  in  our  childhood 
they  did  not  wake  us  for  the  morning  service,  there  was  a 
night  service  held  in  our  house  every  church  holiday,  as  also 
in  the  first  and  last  weeks  of  Lent.  As  soon  as  I  learned  to 
read,  my  father  made  me  read  at  the  divine  services.  To 
this  I  owe  whatever  knowledge  of  Russian  I  possess,  for, 
reading  the  church  books,  I  became  acquainted  with  the 
Slavic  language,  without  which  it  is  impossible  to  know  Rus- 
sian. I  am  thankful  to  my  father  for  having  watched  care- 
fully my  reading:  whenever  I  began  to  read  indistinctly, 
he  would  say  to  me:  "  Stop  mumbling!  or  do  you  imagine 
God  is  pleased  with  your  muttering  ?  ' '     But  more  than  that ; 


352  The  Eighteenth  Century 

whenever  my  father  noticed  that  I  did  not  understand  the 
passage  that  I  had  just  read,  he  undertook  the  labour  of  ex- 
plaining it  to  me, — in  short,  he  showed  endless  care  in  my 
instruction.  As  he  was  not  able  to  hire  teachers  of  foreign 
languages  for  me,  he  did  not  delay,  I  may  say,  a  day  to 
place  me  and  my  brother  in  the  University  as  soon  as  it  was 
fouhded. 

Now  I  shall  say  something  of  the  manner  of  instruction  at 
our  University.  Justice  demands  that  I  should  state  at  the 
start  that  the  University  of  to-day  is  quite  a  different  thing 
from  what  it  was  in  my  days.  Both  the  teachers  and 
students  are  of  a  different  calibre,  and  however  much  the 
school  was  then  subject  to  severe  criticism,  it  now  deserves 
nothing  but  praise.  I  shall  relate,  as  an  example,  how  the 
examination  was  conducted  in  the  lower  Latin  class.  The 
day  before  the  examination  we  were  being  prepared.  Here 
is  what  was  done:  our  teacher  came  in  a  caftan  that  had  five 
buttons,  while  his  vest  had  only  four.  This  peculiarity  sur- 
prised me  much,  and  I  asked  the  teacher  for  the  cause  of  it. 
"  My  buttons  seem  to  amuse  you,"  he  said,  "  but  they  are 
the  guardians  of  your  honour  and  of  mine:  those  on  the 
caftan  stand  for  the  five  declensions,  and  on  the  vest  for  the 
four  conjugations.  And  now,"  he  proceeded,  as  he  beat 
the  table  with  his  hand,  "  be  all  attentive  to  what  I  have 
to  say!  When  they  shall  ask  you  for  the  declension  of 
some  noun,  watch  what  button  I  am  touching:  if  you  see 
me  holding  the  second  button,  answer  boldly  *  The  second 
declension.'  Do  similarly  in  regard  to  the  conjugations, 
being  guided  by  the  buttons  on  my  vest,  and  you  will  never 
make  a  mistake."  That  is  the  kind  of  an  examination  we 
had! 

O  you  parents  who  take  pleasure  in  the  reading  of  gazettes, 
when  you  find  the  names  of  your  children  mentioned  in  them 
as  having  received  prizes  for  diligence,  listen  what  I  got  a 
medal  for!  Our  inspector  had  a  German  friend  who  was 
made  a  professor  of  geography.  He  had  only  three  students. 
As  this  teacher  was  more  stupid  that  our  Latin  teacher,  he 
arrived  at  the  examination  in  a  full  complement  of  buttons, 


Denis  Ivanovich  Fon-Vizin  353 

and  we  were  consequently  examined  without  preparation. 
My  companion  was  asked:  "  Where  does  the  Volga  flow 
to?  "  "  Into  the  Black  Sea,"  was  his  answer.  The  same 
question  was  put  to  my  other  schoolmate.  *'  Into  the  White 
Sea,"  was  his  answer.  Then  they  asked  me  the  same  ques- 
tion. "  I  don't  know,"  I  said  with  such  an  expression  of 
simplicity,  that  the  examiners  unanimously  voted  to  give 
me  a  medal.  Now,  I  did  not  in  the  least  earn  this  medal 
for  any  geographical  knowledge,  though  I  deserved  it  for 
an  illustration  of  practical  morals. 

However  it  may  be,  I  owe  the  University  a  grateful  recog- 
nition :  I  learned  there  Latin,  and  thus  laid  the  foundation 
for  some  of  my  sciences.  I  also  learned  there  some  German, 
and  especially  acquired  a  taste  for  literary  studies.  A  love 
for  writing  was  developed  in  me  very  early  in  my  childhood, 
and  I  practised  for  many  years  translating  into  Russian. 

At  that  time  our  director  had  taken  it  into  his  head  to 
journey  to  St.  Petersburg  with  a  few  of  his  students,  in  order 
to  show  the  founder  of  the  University  the  fruits  of  his  school. 
I  do  not  know  how,  but  my  brother  and  I  were  among  the 
number  of  the  chosen  pupils.  The  director  started  for  St. 
Petersburg  in  the  winter  with  his  wife  and  ten  of  us  young- 
sters. This  was  the  first,  and  consequently  a  difficult,  jour- 
ney for  me  and  my  companions,  but  I  must  make  a  grateful 
acknowledgment  of  the  kind  attention  we  received  from  our 
director  and  which  alleviated  our  hardships.  He  and  his 
wife  looked  after  us  as  after  their  children.  When  we 
arrived  in  St.  Petersburg,  my  brother  and  myself  stopped  at 
the  house  of  an  uncle  of  ours.  A  few  days  later,  our  director 
presented  us  to  the  curator.  This  esteemed  gentleman, 
whose  deserts  Russia  must  not  forget,  received  us  very 
kindly.  He  took  hold  of  my  hand  and  led  me  to  a  man 
whose  appearance  had  attracted  my  respectful  attention. 
That  was  the  immortal  IyOmon6sov.  He  asked  me  what  I 
had  learned.  "  I^atin,"  said  I.  Then  he  began  to  speak 
with  great  eloquence  of  the  importance  of  the  Latin  lan- 
guage. 

VOL.  I. — 23. 


354  The  Eighteenth  Century 

After  dinner  of  the  same  day  we  were  at  Court,  it  being  a 
reception  day,  but  the  Empress  did  not  appear.  I  was  won- 
der-struck by  the  magnificence  of  the  Empress's  palace.  All 
around  us  was  sparkling  gold,  a  gathering  of  men  in  blue 
and  red  ribbons,  a  mass  of  beautiful  women,  an  enormous 
orchestra, —  all  that  bewildered  and  blinded  me,  and  the 
palace  appeared  to  me  to  be  the  dwelling-place  of  a  super- 
human being.  Indeed,  it  could  not  have  been  otherwise, 
for  I  was  then  only  fourteen  years  old,  had  never  seen  any- 
thing, and  everything  appeared  to  me  new  and  charming. 
Having  returned  to  the  house,  I  asked  my  uncle  whether 
they  had  often  receptions  at  Court,  to  which  he  answered : 
"Almost  every  Sunday."  I  decided  to  stay  in  St.  Peters- 
burg as  long  as  possible,  in  order  to  see  more  of  the  Court. 
This  desire  was  the  result  of  curiosity  and  impulse  :  I 
wanted  to  enjoy  the  magnificence  of  the  Court  and  hear 
agreeable  music.  This  desire  soon  subsided,  and  I  began  to 
pine  for  my  parents,  whom  I  became  impatient  to  see.  The 
day  I  received  letters  from  them  was  for  me  the  pleasantest 
of  all,  and  I  went  often  to  the  post  to  ask  for  them. 

Nothing  delighted  me  in  St.  Petersburg  so  much  as  the 
theatre,  which  I  saw  for  the  first  time  in  my  life.  They  were 
playing  a  Russian  comedy,  Henry  and  Pemilla,  and  I  re- 
member it  as  if  it  happened  to-day.  I  saw  there  Shumski, 
who  so  amused  me  with  his  jokes  that  I  lost  all  sense  of 
propriety  and  laughed  as  loud  as  I  could.  It  is  almost  im- 
possible to  describe  the  feelings  which  the  theatre  aroused  in 
me.  The  comedy  which  I  saw  was  quite  stupid,  but  I  looked 
upon  it  as  the  production  of  the  greatest  mind,  and  upon  the 
actors  as  great  people,  whose  acquaintance  I  regarded  as  the 
greatest  happiness.  I  almost  went  insane  when  I  found  out 
that  these  actors  frequented  the  house  of  my  uncle,  where  I 
was  living.  After  a  little  while  I  there  became  acquainted 
with  our  famous  actor,  Ivdn  Afandsevich  Dmitr6vski,  an 
honourable,  clever  and  cultured  gentleman,  whose  friendship 
I  am  enjoying  even  now. 

Standing  once  in  the  pit,  I  struck  up  an  acquaintanceship 
with  the  son  of  a  distinguished  gentleman,  who  had  taken  a 


Denis  Iv^novich  Fon-Vizin  355 

fancy  to  my  face.  As  soon  as  he  received  a  negative  answer 
to  his  question  whether  I  knew  French,  he  suddenly  changed 
and  became  cold  to  me.  He  looked  upon  me  as  an  ignor- 
amus and  badly  educated  man,  and  began  to  make  fun  of 
me.  When  I  noticed  from  his  manner  of  speech  that  he  did 
not  know  anything  else  but  French,  which  he  spoke  badly, 
I  made  such  a  biting  repartee,  that  he  stopped  his  raillery, 
and  invited  me  to  his  house;  I  answered  politely,  and  we 
parted  as  friends.  But  I  learned  from  this  how  necessary  it 
was  for  a  young  man  to  know  French;  so  I  began  to  study 
the  language  in  earnest,  continuing  at  the  same  time  the  study 
of  lyatin,  in  which  language  I  heard  the  lectures  on  logic 
by  Professor  Shaden,  who  was  then  rector.  This  learned 
man  has  the  rare  gift  of  lecturing  and  expounding  so  clearly 
that  we  all  made  palpable  progress,  and  my  brother  and  I 
were  soon  admitted  as  real  students.  All  that  time  I  did  not 
stop  practising  translations  from  German  into  Russian; 
among  other  things  I  translated  Seth,  the  Egyptian  King^ 
but  not  very  successfully.  My  knowledge  of  I^atin  was  ex- 
ceedingly useful  to  me  in  my  study  of  French.  In  two  years 
I  could  understand  Voltaire,  and  I  began  translating  in  verse 
his  Alzire.  That  translation  was  nothing  more  than  a 
youthful  error,  nevertheless  there  are  some  good  verses  in  it. 

LETTERS  TO  COUNT  P.  I.  pInIN,  DURING  HIS 
FIRST  JOURNEY  ABROAD 

MoNTPELi,iER,  November  22  (December  3),  1777. 

.  .  .  I  found  this  city  (lycipsic)  full  of  learned  men. 
Some  of  these  regard  it  as  their  chief  desert  that  they  are 
able  to  talk  in  Latin,  which,  by  the  way,  five-year-old  child- 
ren were  able  to  do  in  the  days  of  Cicero.  Others  soar  in 
thoughts  in  the  sky,  and  are  ignorant  of  what  goes  on  upon 
earth.  Others  again  are  strong  in  artificial  logic,  having  an 
extreme  absence  of  natural  logic.  In  short,  Leipsic  proves 
beyond  controversy  that  learning  does  not  beget  common 
sense.  I  left  these  pedants,  and  went  to  Frankfurt-on-the- 
Main.     This  city  is  celebrated  for  its  antiquities,  and  is  note- 


35^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

worthy  from  the  fact  that  the  Roman  Emperor  is  chosen 
here.  I  was  in  the  election  room  from  which  he  issues  to 
the  people.  But  its  antiquity  consists  merely  in  being  old: 
all  I  saw  there  were  four  empty  walls  in  an  old  building. 
They  showed  rae  also  the  famous  so-called  La  BuUe  d'Or  of 
Emperor  Charles  IV.,  which  was  written  in  the  year  1356, 
and  I  was  also  in  the  Imperial  Archives.  But  it  was  hardly 
worth  my  while  to  climb  up  garrets  and  down  cellars,  in 
order  to  see  the  relics  of  a  rude  age.  From  Frankfurt  I 
travelled  through  German  principalities:  every  step  a  new 
principality.  I  saw  Hanau,  Mainz,  Fulda,  Sachsen-Gotha, 
Eisenach  and  a  few  other  principalities  of  minor  princes.  I 
found  the  roads  frequently  not  paved,  but  I  had  nevertheless 
to  pay  dearly  for  the  pavement.  When  they  pulled  me  out 
of  a  bog  and  asked  pavement  money  of  me,  I  had  the  cour- 
age to  ask  them :  ' '  Where  is  it  ?  "  To  which  they  answered 
me  that  his  Majesty,  the  reigning  prince,  had  the  intention  of 
having  the  roads  paved,  but  that  at  the  present  he  was  only 
collecting  toll.  Such  justice  in  regard  to  strangers  has  led 
me  to  make  my  own  conclusions  in  regard  to  their  relations 
with  their  subjects,  and  I  did  not  at  all  wonder  when  from 
every  hut  there  came  out  a  crowd  of  beggars  and  followed 
my  carriage.     .     .     . 

From  here  I  went  into  France,  and  reached  the  famous 
city  of  Lyons.  In  this  country  the  roads  are  very  good; 
but  in  the  cities  the  streets  are  so  narrow  and  are  so  badly 
kept  that  I  cannot  understand  how  people  with  their  five 
senses  manage  to  live  in  such  dirt.  It  is  evident  that  the 
police  does  not  interfere  with  it.  To  prove  this  I  shall  take 
the  liberty  of  telling  your  Highness  an  occurrence.  I  was 
walking  in  the  finest  and  largest  street  in  Lyons  (which, 
however,  cannot  compare  with  our  by-streets),  and  saw  in 
bright  daylight  burning  torches  and  a  crowd  of  people  in 
the  middle  of  the  street.  Being  near-sighted,  I  naturally 
thought  it  was  some  elegant  funeral.  Upon  approaching 
nearer  out  of  curiosity,  I  saw  how  g^eat  my  mistake  was: 
Messrs.  Frenchmen  had  simply  stuck  a  pig  and  were  singe- 
ing it  in  the  middle  of  the  street!    The  stench,  dirt  and  a 


Denis  Ivanovich  Fon-Vizin  357 

crowd  of  leisure  people  who  were  watching  the  operation 
cotQpelled  me  to  take  another  street.  I  have  not  yet  seen 
Paris,  so  I  do  not  know  whether  my  olfactories  will  suffer 
there  less;  in  any  case,  all  the  French  cities  which  I  have  so 
far  seen  are  badly  off  as  to  their  cleanliness. 

Paris,  March  20  (31),  1778. 

.  .  .  Voltaire's  arrival  in  Paris  produced  the  same 
effect  on  the  people  here  as  if  a  divinity  had  come  down 
upon  earth.  The  respect  shown  to  him  in  no  way  differs 
from  worship.  I  am  confident  that  if  his  deep  old  age  and 
ailments  did  not  oppress  him,  and  he  wished  to  preach  now 
some  new  sect,  the  whole  nation  would  at  once  turn  to  him. 
Your  Excellency  will  form  your  own  opinion  from  what  fol- 
lows whether  one  can  come  to  any  other  conclusion  from 
the  reception  the  public  gave  him. 

When  he  arrived  here,  the  poets  who  are  devoted  to  him 
began  to  write  poems  in  his  honour,  while  those  who  hate 
him  sent  him  anonymous  satires.  The  first  are  printed,  but 
not  the  other,  for  the  Government  has  by  a  special  rescript 
forbidden  to  print  anything  that  might  be  prejudicial  to 
Voltaire.  This  consideration  is  shown  him  as  much  for  his 
great  talents  as  for  his  advanced  age.  This  man  of  eighty- 
five  years  has  composed  a  new  tragedy,  Irene  and  Alexis 
Comnenus,  which  has  been  performed.  Although  it  can  by 
no  means  be  compared  to  his  former  plays,  yet  the  public 
received  it  with  rapture.  The  author  being  ill,  he  was  not 
present  at  the  first  presentation.  It  is  only  the  first  time 
yesterday  that  he  has  driven  out:  he  was  in  the  Academy, 
then  in  the  theatre,  where  they  purposely  gave  his  new 
tragedy. 

As  he  drove  out  from  his  house,  the  carriage  was  accom- 
panied as  far  as  the  Academy  by  an  endless  throng  of  people 
who  kept  up  applauding.  All  the  academicians  came  out  to 
meet  him.  He  was  seated  in  the  president's  chair  and, 
waiving  the  customary  voting,  was  elected  by  acclamation 
to  be  president  for  the  April  quarter.  As  he  walked  down 
the  staircase  and  took  his  seat  in  the  carriage,  the  populace 


35^  The  Eighteenth  Century- 

demanded  vociferously  to  take  oflF  hats.  From  the  Academy 
to  the  theatre  he  was  accompanied  by  the  people's  cheering. 
When  he  entered  his  box,  the  audience  applauded  repeatedly 
with  indescribable  rapture,  and  a  few  minutes  later  the  oldest 
actor,  Brisard,  stepped  into  his  box  with  a  wreath  which  he 
placed  on  Voltaire's  head.  Voltaire  immediately  took  the 
wreath  ofif  and  with  tears  of  joy  spoke  aloud  to  Brisard :  ' '  Ah , 
Dieu !  vous  voulez  done  me  faire  mourir ! ' '  The  tragedy  was 
played  with  much  greater  perfection  than  at  any  previous 
performance.  At  its  conclusion  there  was  a  new  spectacle. 
All  the  actors  and  actresses  surrounded  Voltaire's  bust  and 
adorned  it  with  laurel  wreaths.  This  homage  was  followed 
by  the  people's  applause,  which  lasted  nearly  fifteen  minutes. 
Then  Madame  Vestrice,  who  had  played  Irene,  turned  to- 
wards Voltaire  and  read  some  laudatory  verses.  To  show 
their  appreciation,  the  public  demanded  that  the  verses  be 
read  again,  and  they  applauded  wildly.  As  soon  as  Voltaire 
seated  himself  in  his  carriage,  the  people  stopped  the  coach- 
man and  cried:  "  Des  flambeaux,  des  flambeaux!  "  When 
the  torches  were  brought,  they  ordered  the  coachman  to 
drive  at  a  slow  pace,  and  an  endless  crowd  accompanied  him 
to  his  very  house  with  torches,  crying  all  the  time:  "  Vive 
Voltaire ! ' '  Voltaire  has  received  many  an  ovation  in  his 
lifetime,  but  yesterday  was,  no  doubt,  the  best  day  of  his 
life,  which,  however,  will  soon  come  to  an  end.  Your  Ex- 
cellency will  see  how  he  now  looks  from  his  portrait  which  I 
here  enclose  and  which  is  a  very  good  likeness  of  him. 

Ermil  Iv5.novich  Kostr6v.    (1750-1796.) 

Kostrdv  was  the  son  of  a  peasant.  He  studied  in  a  seminary  and 
began  to  write  verses  early,  first  under  the  influence  of  Ix)mon6sov, 
in  the  pseudo-classic  stj'le, — later,  under  the  influence  of  Derzhdvin, 
he  cultivated  a  simpler  and  better  language.  His  chief  services  to 
Russian  literature  are  his  translations  of  Apuleius,  Ossian,  and  the 
Iliad.  The  ode  which  is  given  here  marks  the  turning-point  in  his 
manner  of  writing,  and  at  the  same  time  indicates  how  great  was  the 
change  brought  about  by  Derzhdvin 's  Felltsa  (see  p.  378)  in  Russian 
poetry. 


Ermil  Iv^novich  Kostrov  359 

LETTER  TO  THE  CREATOR  OF  THE  ODE  IN 
PRAISE  OF  "FELITSA,  THE  KIRGIZ-KAYSAk 
PRINCESS  " 

Singer,  to  whom  with  a  gentle  smile  the  Muse  has  lately- 
brought  from  the  Parnassian  heights  a  wreath,  I  hanker  for 
your  friendship  and  union  with  you.  Moscow  is  my  habita- 
tion, you  sing  the  Neva  stream.  But  not  the  distant  roads, 
nor  mounts,  nor  hills,  nor  forests,  nor  rivers  shall  impede 
my  zeal  to  you,  which  to  Petropolis  shall  be  borne,  to  issue 
in  your  breast  and  ears:  not  impossible  to  Muses  is  what  the 
Muses  will. 

Tell  me,  I  pray,  how  without  a  lyre,  nor  violin,  not  even 
having  saddled  the  Parnassian  steed,  you  have  sung  so 
sweetly  Felitsa's  acts,  and  her  crown's  life-giving  beams  ? 
You  evidently  have  walked  all  streets  and  byways  on  Pindus' 
heights  and  in  the  grassy  vale  of  the  pure  Muses,  and  to 
glorify,  console,  make  happy,  amuse  the  Princess,  you  have 
discovered  a  new,  untrodden  path.  Having  discovered  it, 
you  ran  it  at  will,  and  neither  stump  nor  stone  e'er  tripped 
you,  but  all  appeared  to  you  a  grassy  mead,  and  your  caftan 
was  nowhere  rent  by  thorns.  Proclaiming  the  praises  of 
the  Princess,  recounting  the  pleasures  of  the  bashaws,  you 
played  the  bagpipe,  yet  sang  enticingly  withal. 

Disdaining  the  evil  conscience  of  the  envious,  you  onward 
bore,  which  boldness  seeing,  Parnassus  wound  a  wreath  for 
you.  Their  flowing  hair  descending  on  their  arms,  disport- 
ing on  their  pink-white  breasts  and  cheeks,  the  forms  of 
fairy  nymphs  from  the  Neva  rose;  gently  waving  on  the 
crests,  they  listened  intent  to  j-ou,  and  praised  the  beautiful 
innovation  of  your  verse.  In  token  of  their  heartfelt  tribute, 
they  clapped  their  hands  in  ecstasy,  then  disappeared  into 
the  crystal  depths. 

By  easy  post  Felitsa's  praise  was  borne  to  Moscow,  to  the 
delight  of  all  the  hearts,  and  all  who  read  have  sung  your 
praise,  and  arbiters  of  taste  have  wound  a  wreath  for  you. 
They  have  read  it  a  hundred  times,  yet  listen  gladly, 
with  attention,  when  someone  in  their  presence  reads  it 


360  The  Eighteenth  Century 

again,  and  cannot  assuage  their  spirits,  nor  satisfy  their 
captive  ears,  while  listening  to  its  sportive  jests.  Just  so  a 
garden,  with  charming  shrubs  and  shade  of  trees,  planted 
on  a  hill  above  a  stream  of  limpid  waters,  though  it  be  well 
known  to  us,  though  known  the  taste  of  every  fruit  therein, 
though  familiar  to  us  its  every  path,  yet  drawn  by  a  mys- 
terious feeling,  we  hasten  to  walk  in  it  once  more,  and  turn 
our  glances  all  about  us,  to  discover  something  new,  though 
we  have  seen  it  all  before. 

Our  ears  are  almost  deaf  from  the  vociferous  lyric  tones, 
and,  meseems,  't  is  time  to  come  down  from  the  clouds,  lest, 
forgetful  of  the  law  of  equilibrium,  and  flying  from  the 
heights,  one  break  his  arms  and  legs:  no  matter  what  our 
endeavour  be  to  rise  on  high,  Felitsa's  deeds  will  still  be 
higher.  She  likes  simplicity  of  style,  so  't  were  better, 
treading  that  road  in  modesty,  to  raise  our  voice  to  her. 
Dwelling  on  Parnassus  in  union  with  the  nymphs,  I  have 
thrummed  the  sonorous  harp,  while  praising  the  Kirgfz- 
Kaysdk  Princess,  and  have  only  earned  cold  praises.  All 
lauded  there  my  verses,  flattered  me,  though  themselves 
were  but  amused ;  and  now  they  have  the  honour  in  oblivion 
to  lie:  't  is  evident  high-soaring  odes  are  out  of  fashion. 

Above  us  you  have  risen  through  your  simplicity !  Write, 
as  formerly,  again  a  letter  to  your  neighbour;  you  have  well 
depicted  his  luxurious  mind,  how  he  invites  a  hungry  mob 
to  dinner,  games  and  luxuries  on  the  tables;  or,  loving 
Nature's  beauties,  sing  of  the  crystal  waters,  as  once  you 
sang  the  Spring  of  Gr6benev.  This  spring,  flowing  through 
the  valley,  even  now  is  pleasing  to  me :  whenever  I  slaked 
my  thirst,  a  ray  of  joy  shone  to  me. 

But  to  you,  who  preside  most  wisely,  leader  of  the  Muses, 
their  labours'  judge,  listening  to  their  sweet  thunderous 
music,  to  you  this  honour  and  praise  is  due,  because,  burn- 
ing with  zeal  and  inventive  of  new  paths,  you  labour  to 
advance  our  native  tongue.  It  is  majestic,  sweet  and  rich, 
thunderous,  elate,  liquid  and  strong,  and  great  is  your  work 
of  its  perfection.  Encouraged  by  you,  the  lovers  of  the  sci- 
ences have  with  heartfelt  zeal  walked  on  the  glorious  path: 


Alexander  Nikolaevich  Radishchev    361 

we  see  the  fair  Russian  diction  in  their  labours,  and  its  pro- 
gress in  him  who  has  extolled  you. 

I  shall  say  it  without  hesitation:  you  emulate  Minerva, 
and  bring  your  rest  as  a  sacrifice  to  the  Muses,  and  the  glory 
of  your  country  is  your  pleasure  and  consolation.  Your  ex- 
ploits are  enviable  to  men.  With  Felitsa's  beloved,  precious 
name,  with  Felitsa's  praise  and  the  laudation  of  her  wise 
acts  the  beginning  of  these  labours  has  been  adorned,  and 
has  brought  joy  and  rapture  to  its  readers.  Blessed  is  that 
beginning  where  her  resplendent  name  appears,  and  the 
end  is  crowned  with  success.  To  him  who  thus  has  glori- 
fied Felitsa,  and  has  given  a  new  flavour  to  his  verses, 
honour  and  glory  from  the  depth  of  our  hearts ! 

Alexander  Nikoldevich  Radishchev.    (1749-1802.) 

In  1765  Catherine  II.  sent  twelve  young  men  to  Leipsic  to  be  edu- 
cated in  the  University ;  among  the  number  was  Radishchev.  He 
studied  philosophy  under  Platner,  and  for  his  own  amusement  took  a 
full  course  in  medicine.  Upon  his  return  he  was  attached  to  the 
Kommerz-KoUeg,  a  kind  of  Department  of  Finance,  where  he  dis- 
tinguished himself  for  his  unexampled  honesty  and  gained  the  love 
of  its  President,  Count  Voronts6v,  whom  he  had  the  courage  to  op- 
pose in  a  decision  at  law,  in  order  to  save  some  innocent  men  from 
transportation  to  Siberia.  When  he  was  later  put  in  charge  of  the 
Customs  House  of  St.  Petersburg,  he  discovered  that  the  consider- 
able traffic  with  England  demanded  a  knowledge  of  English,  if  he 
wished  to  dispense  with  a  translator  ;  accordingly  at  the  age  of  thirty 
he  acquired  the  English  language  and  began  to  read  its  literature, 
which  exerted  a  great  influence  upon  him. 

In  1790  he  wrote  hx^  Journey  from  St.  Petersburg  to  Moscow,  which 
he  distributed  among  his  friends,  though  it  had  not  been  approved 
by  the  censor.  This  work,  written  in  the  style  of  Sterne's  Senti- 
mental Journey,  is  not  only  remarkable  as  a  piece  of  literature,  but 
also  as  a  political  pamphlet.  It  attacks  the  institution  of  Russia  in 
the  light  of  the  most  advanced  liberalism  of  France  and  North 
America.  Radishchev  advocated  in  no  unmistakable  terms  the 
liberation  of  the  serfs,  almost  half  a  century  before  Turg^nev.  When 
Catherine  II.  read  the  book,  she  exclaimed  :  "  He  is  a  Martinist. 
He  is  worse  than  Pugach^v,  he  praises  Franklin."  Radishchev  was 
banished  to  Siberia.  There  he  devoted  himself  to  literature,  wrote 
his  Ode  to  Liberty,  which  is  the  forerunner  of  all  the  poems  of  liberty 


362  The  Eighteenth  Century 

by  Ryly^ev,  Ogar^v,  Odo^vski,  and  a  few  longer  poems  in  a  lighter 
vein.  Emperor  Paul  pardoned  him,  and  Emperor  Alexander  ad- 
vanced him  to  higher  honours.  When  an  acquaintance  of  his  accused 
him  of  returning  to  his  youthful  ideals  and  warned  him  of  subjecting 
himself  to  the  danger  of  another  banishment,  he  committed  suicide 
in  a  moment  of  despondency. 

JOURNEY  FROM  ST.  PETERSBURG  TO  MOSCOW 

DEPARTURE 

After  having  taken  supper  with  my  friends,  I  took  my  seat 
in  the  kibitka.  The  driver  drove  the  horses  at  full  gallop, 
as  was  his  wont,  and  in  a  few  minutes  we  were  outside  the 
city.  It  is  hard  to  part,  even  for  a  short  time,  from  those 
who  have  become  necessary  to  us  at  every  moment  of  our 
existence.  It  is  hard  to  part, — but  happy  is  he  who  can 
part  without  smiling,  for  love  or  friendship  is  his  consola- 
tion. You  weep  as  you  say  * '  good-bye  ' ' ;  but  think  of  j'our 
return, — and  let  your  tears  dry  up  at  this  thought,  as  dries 
up  the  dew  before  the  face  of  the  sun.  Happy  is  he  who 
weeps,  hoping  to  be  consoled!  Happy  is  he  who  sometimes 
lives  in  the  future!  Happy  is  he  who  lives  in  meditation! 
His  existence  is  enriched;  his  joy  is  multiplied,  and  calm 
assuages  the  gloom  of  his  pining,  generating  images  of 
happiness  in  the  mirrors  of  his  contemplation. 

I  lay  in  the  kibitka.  The  tinkling  of  the  post  bell  was 
monotonous  to  my  ears,  and  finally  brought  to  me  beneficent 
Morpheus.  The  g^ef  of  my  parting  persecuted  me  in  my 
deathlike  state,  and  painted  me  to  my  imagination  as  for- 
lorn. I  saw  myself  in  a  spacious  vale  which  had  lost  all  its 
amenity  and  greenness  of  leafage  through  the  hot  rays  of 
the  sun.  There  was  not  a  spring  to  offer  coolness,  nor  tree- 
shade  to  protect  from  the  heat.  I  was  a  hermit,  left  in  the 
midst  of  Nature!  I  shuddered.  "Miserable  man!"  I 
sighed,  "  where  are  you  ?  What  has  become  of  all  that  has 
enticed  you  ?  Where  is  all  that  has  made  your  life  agree- 
able? Is  it  possible  that  the  pleasures  which  you  have 
tasted  are  only  an  idle  dream  ?  ' ' 

Luckily  there  was  a  deep  rut  in  the  road,  and  my  kibitka, 


Alexander  Nikolcievich  Radishchev    363 

getting  into  it,  jostled  me  and  woke  me  up.  The  kibitka 
stopped.  I  raised  my  head  and  saw  three  habitations  in  a 
barren  spot. 

*  *  What  is  that  ?  "  I  asked  my  driver. 

"  A  post  station." 

"  Where  are  we  ?  " 

"  In  Sofiya,"  and  he  unhitched  the  horses. 

SOFIYA 

All  around  me  was  silence.  I  was  absorbed  in  contempla- 
tion and  did  not  notice  that  the  kibitka  had  been  standing 
quite  a  while  without  the  horses.  My  driver  broke  my 
meditation : 

"  Master,  father,  some  money  for  a  drink!  " 

This  tax  is  illegal,  but  no  one  objects  to  paying  it,  in  order 
that  he  may  be  able  to  travel  at  his  ease ;  the  twenty  kopeks 
I  gave  him  were  a  good  investment.  Who  has  travelled  by 
post  knows  that  a  passport  is  a  precaution  without  which  any 
purse,  unless  it  be  a  general's,  will  have  to  suffer.  I  took 
it  out  of  my  pocket  and  went  with  it,  as  people  sometimes 
go  with  the  cross  for  their  defence. 

I  found  the  Post  Commissary  snoring.  I  touched  his 
shoulder. 

"  Whom  does  the  devil  drive  so  ?  What  a  miserable  habit 
to  depart  from  the  city  at  night  ?  There  are  no  horses  here, 
— it 's  too  early  yet.  Go  into  the  inn  and  drink  tea,  or  go 
to  sleep ! ' ' 

Having  said  that,  the  Commissary  turned  to  the  wall, 
and  went  to  snoring  again.  What  was  I  to  do?  I  once 
more  shook  the  Commissary  by  his  shoulder. 

"What  is  the  matter  with  you  ?  I  told  you  there  are  no 
horses!  "  and,  covering  himself  with  the  blanket,  the  Com- 
missary turned  away  from  me. 

If  the  horses  are  all  engaged,  I  thought  to  myself,  then  it 
is  not  right  for  me  to  disturb  the  Commissary's  sleep.  But 
if  there  are  any  horses  in  the  stable  ...  I  made  up  my 
mind  I  would  find  out  whether  the  Commissary  told  the 


364  The  Eighteenth  Century 

truth.  I  went  into  the  yard,  hunted  up  the  stable  and 
found  some  twenty  horses  in  it.  It  is  true,  one  could  count 
the  bones  on  them,  yet  they  would  have  taken  me  to  the 
next  station.  From  the  stable  I  returned  to  the  Commis- 
sary, and  shook  him  harder  than  before,  for  I  felt  I  had  a 
right  to  do  so,  having  discovered  that  he  had  told  a  lie. 
He  jumped  up  from  his  bed  and  without  opening  his  eyes 
asked  who  had  arrived.  "I  .  .  ."  But  coming  to  his 
senses,  and  noticing  me,  he  said : 

"  Young  man,  you  are  evidently  in  the  habit  of  command- 
ing drivers  of  olden  days,  when  they  used  to  beat  them  with 
sticks.  Well,  that  won't  work  now-a-days."  The  Commis- 
sary lay  down  angrily  in  his  bed  again.  I  had  really  a 
desire  to  treat  him  like  one  of  those  drivers  when  they  were 
discovered  cheating;  but  my  generosity  to  the  city  driver 
caused  the  Sofiya  drivers  to  hurry  up  and  hitch  the  horses 
to  the  kibitka.  Just  as  I  was  getting  ready  to  commit  a 
crime  on  the  back  of  the  Commissary,  the  bells  were  heard 
in  the  yard.  I  remained  a  good  citizen,  and  thus  twenty 
kopeks  saved  a  peaceable  man  from  an  inquest,  my  children 
from  an  example  of  incontinence  in  anger,  and  I  discovered 
that  reason  is  a  slave  to  impatience. 

The  horses  carried  me  away.  The  driver  started  a  song 
which,  as  usual,  was  a  doleful  one.  He  who  knows  the 
tunes  of  Russian  popular  songs  will  admit  that  there  is 
something  in  them  that  speaks  of  sadness  of  spirit.  Nearly 
all  the  tunes  of  such  songs  are  in  the  minor  key.  In  this 
musical  inclination  of  the  popular  ear  one  may  find  a  solu- 
tion of  the  trend  of  his  actions.  In  it  one  may  discover  the 
condition  of  the  nation's  soul.  Look  at  a  Russian!  You 
will  always  find  him  lost  in  meditation.  If  he  wants  to  drive 
away  ennui,  or,  as  he  calls  it,  have  a  good  time,  he  goes  to 
the  inn.  In  his  intoxication  he  is  impulsive,  bold,  quarrel- 
some. If  anything  takes  place  not  to  his  liking,  he  at  once 
starts  a  brawl  or  fight.  A  churl  who  goes  into  the  inn  with 
a  downcast  look  and  returns  from  it  covered  with  blood  from 
having  had  his  ears  boxed  may  throw  a  light  on  many  an 
enigmatic  point  in  Russian  history. 


Alexander  Nikolaevich  Radishchev    365 

My  driver  was  singing.  It  was  three  o'clock  in  the  morn- 
ing. As  before  the  bell,  so  now  his  song  put  me  to  sleep: 
"  O  Nature!  Having  swathed  man  at  his  birth  in  the  wind- 
ing-sheets of  sorrow,  dragging  him  all  his  life  over  the  for- 
bidding crags  of  fear,  ennui  and  sadness,  you  have  given 
him  sleep  as  a  consolation.  You  fall  asleep,  and  all  is  at  an 
end!  Unbearable  is  the  awakening  to  the  unfortunate  man. 
Oh,  how  acceptable  death  is  to  hira!  And  if  it  is  the  end 
of  sorrow.  .  .  .  All-kind  Father!  Wilt  Thou  turn  away 
Thy  look  from  him  who  ends  his  life  in  a  manly  way  ?  To 
Thee,  the  source  of  all  goodness,  this  sacrifice  is  brought. 
Thou  alone  givest  strength  when  creation  trembles  and  is 
convulsed.  It  is  the  voice  of  the  Father,  calling  His  child 
unto  Himself !  Thou  hast  given  me  life,  to  Thee  I  return  it: 
upon  earth  it  has  become  useless." 

tosnA. 

When  I  left  St.  Petersburg  I  thought  I  would  find  a  very 
good  road.  All  those  who  have  travelled  upon  it  after  the 
Emperor  have  thought  so.  It  had  been  such,  indeed,  but 
only  for  a  short  time.  The  dirt  which  had  been  put  upon 
the  road  in  dry  weather  in  order  to  make  it  even  had  been 
washed  by  the  rains,'  forming  a  swamp  in  the  summer,  and 
made  it  impassable.  Fearing  bad  weather,  I  got  out  of  the 
kibitka  and  went  into  the  post  station,  intending  to  take  a 
rest.  In  the  room  I  found  a  traveller  who  was  sitting  behind 
a  long,  common  peasant  table  in  the  nearer  corner  and  was 
turning  over  some  papers.  He  asked  the  Post  Commissary 
to  give  him  horses  as  soon  as  possible.  To  my  question  who 
he  was,  I  learned  that  he  was  a  pettifogger  of  the  old  style, 
and  that  he  was  going  to  St.  Petersburg  with  a  stack  of 
torn  papers  which  he  was  then  examining.  I  immediately 
entered  into  a  conversation  with  him,  and  here  is  what  he 
said: 

"  Dear  sir, — I,  your  humble  servant,  have  been  a  Regis- 
trar in  the  Archives  of  the  Estates,  where  I  had  an  oppor- 
tunity to  make  good  use  of  my  position :  by  assiduous  labour 


366  The  Eighteenth  Century 

I  have  collected  a  genealogy,  based  on  clear  documentary 
proof,  of  many  Russian  families,  and  I  can  trace  their 
princely  or  noble  origin  'several  centuries  back.  I  can  re- 
instate many  a  man  in  his  princely  dignity,  by  showing  his 
origin  from  Vladimir  Monomdkh,  or  even  from  Rtirik. 
Dear  sir,"  he  continued,  as  he  pointed  to  his  papers,  "  all 
Great-Russian  nobles  ought  to  purchase  my  work,  paying 
for  it  more  than  for  any  other  wares.  But  with  the  leave  of 
your  High  Birth,  Noble  Birth,  or  High  and  Noble  Birth, 
for  I  do  not  know  how  to  honour  you,  they  do  not  know 
what  they  need.  You  know  how  the  orthodox  Tsar  Fe6dor 
Aleksy6evich  of  blessed  memory  has  injured  the  Russian 
nobility  by  doing  away  with  the  prefecture.  That  severe 
legislation  placed  many  honourable  princely  and  royal 
families  on  a  level  with  the  N6vgorod  nobility.  But  the 
orthodox  Emperor  Peter  the  Great  has  entirely  put  them  in 
the  shade  by  his  Table  of  Ranks.  He  opened  the  way  to  all 
for  obtaining  the  title  of  nobility  through  military  and  civil 
service,  and  he,  so  to  say,  has  trampled  the  old  nobility  in 
the  dirt.  Our  Most  Gracious  Mother,  now  reigning,  has 
confirmed  the  former  decrees  by  her  august  Law  of  the 
Nobility,  which  has  very  much  disquieted  all  our  higher 
nobles,  for  the  old  families  are  placed  in  the  Book  of  the 
Nobility  lower  than  the  rest.  There  is,  however,  a  rumour 
that  there  will  soon  be  issued  a  supplementary  decree  by 
which  those  families  that  can  trace  their  noble  origin  two 
or  three  hundred  years  back  will  be  granted  the  title  of 
Marquis  or  something  like  it,  so  that  they  will  have  some 
distinguishing  feature  from  the  other  families.  For  this 
reason,  dear  sir,  my  work  must  be  acceptable  to  all  the  old 
nobility.  But  there  are  rascals  everywhere.  In  Moscow  I 
fell  in  with  a  company  of  young  gentlemen  to  whom  I  pro- 
posed my  work,  in  order  to  be  repaid  through  their  kindness 
at  least  for  the  paper  and  ink  wasted  upon  it.  But  instead 
of  kindness  they  heaped  raillery  upon  me;  so  I  left  that 
capital  from  grief,  and  am  on  my  way  to  St.  Petersburg, 
where  there  is  more  culture." 

Saying  this,  he  made  a  deep  bow,  and  straightening  him- 


Alexander  Nikol^evich  Radishchev    367 

self  up,  stood  before  me  with  the  greatest  respect.  I  under- 
stood his  thought,  took  something  out  of  my  purse  and, 
giving  it  to  him,  advised  him  to  sell  his  paper  by  weight  to 
peddlers  for  wrapping  paper,  for  the  prospective  marquisates 
would  only  turn  people's  heads,  and  he  would  be  the  cause 
of  a  recrudescence  of  an  evil,  now  passed  in  Russia,  of  boast- 
ing of  old  genealogies. 

i,yub1ni 

I  suppose  it  is  all  the  same  to  you,  whether  I  travelled  in 
summer  or  winter,  especially  since  it  is  not  uncommon  for 
travellers  to  travel  both  summer  and  winter,  starting  out  in 
a  sleigh  and  returning  in  a  wheel  carriage.  The  corduroy 
road  wore  out  my  sides.  I  crawled  out  of  the  kibitka,  and 
started  on  foot.  While  I  was  lying  in  the  kibitka,  my 
thoughts  were  directed  to  the  immeasurableness  of  the  world, 
and  while  my  soul  flitted  away  from  the  earth,  it  seemed 
easier  to  bear  the  jostling  of  the  carriage.  But  spiritual 
exercises  do  not  always  distract  our  corporeality,  and  it  was 
in  order  to  save  my  sides  that  I  went  on  foot. 

A  few  steps  from  the  road  I  noticed  a  peasant  who  was 
ploughing  his  field.  It  was  warm;  I  looked  at  my  watch:  it 
was  twenty  minutes  to  one.  I  left  the  city  on  Saturday,  so 
it  was  Sunday  then.  The  peasant  that  was  ploughing  evid- 
ently belonged  to  a  landowner  that  did  not  receive  any  tax 
from  him.  The  peasant  was  ploughing  with  great  care; 
evidently  the  field  did  not  belong  to  the  master.  He  was 
turning  the  plough  with  remarkable  ease. 

"  God  aid  you!  "  I  said  as  I  approached  the  ploughman, 
who  did  not  stop  but  finished  the  furrow  he  had  begun. 

"  God  aid  you!  "  I  repeated. 

"  Thank  you,  sir!  "  said  the  ploughman  as  he  cleaned  the 
ploughshare  and  transferred  the  plough  to  a  new  furrow. 

' '  You  are,  of  course,  a  dissenter,  since  you  work  on  Sun- 
day." 

"  No,  sir,  I  make  the  correct  sign  of  the  cross,"  he  said, 
and  showed  me  his  three  fingers  put  together;  "  but  God  is 


368  The  Eighteenth  Century 

merciful  and  does  not  want  a  person  to  starve,  as  long  as  he 
has  a  family  and  sufl&cient  strength." 

**  Have  you  not  any  time  to  work  during  the  week,  that 
you  work  on  a  Sunday,  and  at  that  in  a  great  heat  ?  " 

"  In  the  week,  sir,  there  are  six  days,  and  we  have  to  work 
for  the  manor  six  times  a  week,  and  in  the  evening  we  haul 
the  hay  from  the  meadows,  if  the  weather  is  good;  and  on 
holidays  the  women  and  girls  go  to  the  woods  to  gather 
mushrooms  and  berries.  God  grant  a  rain  this  evening," 
he  added  as  he  made  the  sign  of  the  cross.  "  Sir,  if  you 
have  any  peasants,  they  are  praying  for  the  same." 

"  I  have  no  peasants,  my  friend;  and  so  nobody  curses 
me.     Have  j'ou  a  large  family  ?  " 

"  Three  sons  and  three  daughters.  My  eldest  is  ten  years 
old." 

*'  How  do  you  manage  to  get  enough  grain,  if  you  have 
only  the  Sundays  to  yourself  ?  " 

"  Not  only  the  Sundays, — the  nights  are  ours  too.  We 
need  not  starve,  if  we  are  not  lazy.  You  see,  one  horse  is 
resting;  and  when  this  one  gets  tired,  I  '11  take  the  other, 
and  that  's  the  way  I  make  my  work  count." 

"  Do  you  work  the  same  way  for  your  master  ?  " 

"  No,  sir!  It  would  be  sinful  to  work  the  same  way;  he 
has  in  his  fields  one  hundred  hands  for  one  mouth,  and  I 
have  but  two  hands  for  seven  mouths,  if  you  count  it  up. 
If  you  were  to  work  yourself  to  death  at  your  master's  work, 
he  would  not  thank  you  for  it.  The  master  will  not  pay 
the  capitation  tax;  he  will  let  you  have  no  mutton,  no 
hempen  cloth,  no  chicken,  no  butter.  Our  people  are  fortun- 
ate in  those  places  where  the  master  receives  a  rent  from 
the  peasant,  particularly  without  a  superintendent!  It  is 
true,  some  good  masters  ask  more  than  three  roubles  for 
each  soul,  yet  that  is  better  than  tenant  labour.  They  are 
now  getting  in  the  habit  of  letting  farms  out  to  renters  who, 
being  poor,  flay  us  alive.  They  do  not  give  us  our  own 
time,  and  do  not  let  us  go  out  in  the  winter  to  work  for 
ourselves,  because  they  pay  our  capitation  tax.  It  is  a 
devilish  idea  to  let  one's  peasants  do  work  for  somebody 


Alexander  Nikol^evich  Radishchev    369 

else!  There  is  at  least  a  chance  of  complaining  against  a 
superintendent,  but  to  whom  is  one  to  complain  against  a 
tenant?" 

"  My  friend!  You  are  mistaken:  the  laws  do  not  permit 
to  torture  people." 

"Torture,  yes!  But,  sir,  you  would  not  want  to  be  in 
my  hide  ! "  In  the  meantime  the  ploughman  hitched 
another  horse  to  his  plough  and,  bidding  me  good-bye, 
began  a  new  furrow. 

The  conversation  with  this  agriculturist  awakened  a 
multitude  of  thoughts  in  me.  Above  all,  I  thought  of  the 
inequality  of  the  peasant's  condition.  I  compared  the  crown 
peasants  with  those  of  the  proprietors.  Both  live  in  villages, 
but  while  the  first  pay  a  stated  tax,  the  others  have  to  be 
ready  to  pay  whatever  the  master  wishes.  The  first  are 
judged  by  their  peers;  the  others  are  dead  to  the  laws,  ex- 
cept in  criminal  matters.  A  member  of  society  only  then  is 
taken  cognisance  of  by  the  Government  that  protects  him 
when  he  violates  the  social  bond,  when  he  becomes  a  crim- 
inal I  That  thought  made  all  my  blood  boil.  Beware,  cruel 
proprietor!  On  the  brow  of  every  one  of  your  peasants  I  see 
your  condemnation ! 

Absorbed  in  these  thoughts  I  accidentally  turned  my  eyes 
to  my  servant,  who  was  sitting  in  front  of  me  in  the  kibitka 
and  was  shaking  from  side  to  side.  I  felt  a  sudden  darkness 
come  over  me,  which  passed  through  all  my  blood  and  drove 
a  burning  feeling  upwards  and  made  it  spread  over  my  face. 
I  felt  so  heartily  ashamed  of  myself,  that  I  wanted  to  cry. 
"  In  your  anger,"  I  said  to  myself,  "  you  attack  the  cruel 
master  who  maltreats  his  peasants  in  the  field ;  and  are  you 
not  doing  the  same,  or  even  worse  ?  What  crime  did  your 
poor  Petrushka  commit  that  you  do  not  allow  him  to  enjoy 
the  comfort  of  our  misfortunes,  the  greatest  gift  of  Nature 
to  the  unfortunate  man, — sleep  ?  '  He  receives  his  pay,  his 
food  and  dress;  I  never  have  him  whipped  with  a  scourge 
or  sticks.'  O  you  kind  man!  You  think  that  a  piece  of 
bread  and  a  rag  give  you  the  right  to  treat  a  being  that  re- 
sembles you  as  a  top  ?    You  are  merely  boasting  that  you 

VOL.  I.— 84. 


370  The  Eighteenth  Century- 

do  not  very  often  whip  it  as  it  is  whirling  about.  Do  yon 
know  what  is  written  in  the  first  law  of  each  man's  heart  ? 
*  If  I  strike  anyone,  he  has  the  right  to  strike  me  also.'  Re- 
member the  day  when  Petrushka  was  drunk  and  did  not 
dress  you  fast  enough !  Remember  how  you  boxed  his  ears ! 
Oh,  if  he  had  then,  drunk  as  he  was,  come  to  his  senses,  and 
had  answered  your  question  in  a  befitting  manner!  Who 
has  given  you  the  right  over  him  ?  The  law !  Law !  And 
you  dare  besmirch  that  sacred  name!  Wretch!  .  .  ." 
Tears  flowed  from  my  eyes,  and  in  this  condition  the  post 
horses  brought  me  to  the  next  station. 

Alexander  Onisimovich  Ablesimov.    (1742-1783.) 

Ablesimov  was  a  frequent  contributor  to  several  periodical  publica- 
tions ;  his  contributions  present  no  special  interest,  but  he  gained  a 
great  reputation  by  his  comic  opera  The  Miller,  which,  though  it  is 
an  imitation  of  a  foreign  original,  was  the  first  play  to  introduce  a 
popular  element,  taken  directly  from  the  life  of  the  people.  The 
public  hailed  this  comedy  as  a  new  departure ;  it  was  given  to 
crowded  houses  twenty-seven  times  in  succession,  and  a  number  of 
imitations  appeared  with  the  same  element  of  sorcery  and  country 
life  for  their  background. 

THE  MILLER 

ACT  I 

The  stage  represents  on  one  side  a  forest,  with  small  villages 
in  the  distant  hills,  and  on  the  other  a  mill,  and  nearby  a 
waggon  with  sacks.     In  front  of  it  is  a  tree. 

SCENE  I 

Miller  {alone.  He  is  planing  a  hoard  and  sings,  only  the 
song  is  without  words  and  music.  Then  he  says):  What 
song  is  that?  .  .  .  Oh,  yes:  "How  our  night  from 
midnight"  .  .  .  that's  it  ...  {he  begins  to  sing 
that  tune,  continuing  his  work). 

How  our  night  from  midnight, 
From  midnight  to  white  day    .     .    . 


Alexander  Onisimovich  Ablesimov    371 

What  a  downpour  it  has  been,  and  now  it  has  stopped  ! 
{He  sings  again,  and  continues  his  song.) 

'T  was  at  the  dawn,  the  early  one, 

At  the  fall  of  the  shining  moon    .     .     . 

How  it  did  blow!  I  declare,  it  did  blow;  why,  it  almost 
tore  my  mill  down.  I  would  have  been  left  with  nothing. 
It  has  done  some  damage, — thanks  to  the  Lord,  not  much 
damage.  Did  I  say  not  much  damage  ?  Well,  I  have  enough 
to  do  to  fix  it  up.  {Putting  the  level  to  the  board.)  It  '11 
come  out  all  right,  and  all  will  go  well  again.  {Advanc- 
ing towards  the  orchestra.)  I  have  to  laugh  every  time  I 
think  of  it;  they  say  that  a  mill  cannot  exist  without  a 
wizard,  and  that  a  miller  is  n't  just  a  man  like  anybody  else: 
he  is  on  speaking  terms  with  the  house-spirit,  and  the  house- 
spirits  live  in  their  mills  like  devils  .  .  .  ha,  ha,  ha,  ha ! 
What  bosh !  Am  I  not  a  miller  through  and  through  ?  I 
was  born,  brought  up,  and  have  grown  old  in  the  mill,  and 
yet  I  have  never  laid  my  eyes  on  a  house-spirit.  Now,  to 
tell  the  gospel  truth,  it  's  just  this:  if  you  are  a  shrewd  fel- 
low and  a  good  hand  at  cheating,  that  sorcery  business  is  a 
good  thing.  .  .  .  Let  them  prattle  what  they  please, 
but  we  earn  our  bread  by  our  profession. 

Who  by  cheating  makes  a  living, 

Him  at  once  all  call  a  gipsy, 

And  you  gain  through  gipsy  dealings 

The  reputation  of  a  wizard. 

Even  in  that  way  the  witches 

Make  a  living  by  deception. 

There  's  a  big  lot  of  these  rascals: 

Some  of  them  bespeak  the  water, 

Others  turn  the  sieve  for  people. 

And  through  such  tricks  make  a  living! 

Just  like  me,  sinful  man !     .     .     . 

SCENE    2.      PIUM(5n   and   THE   FORMER 

Miller  {noticing  him).  Ah!  I  am  getting  a  guest.  I  '11  earn 
a  penny  this  day.     {To  Filimdn.)  Godspeed,  young  man! 


372  The  Eighteenth  Century 

FilimSn.  My  respects,  old  man. 

Miller.  Whence  come  you,  whither  tend  you  ? 

Filim6n.  Not  farther  than  my  business  takes  me. 

Miller.  Of  3'our  own  will,  or  by  compulsion  ? 

Filimdn.  I  am  looking  for  horses:  my  roan  and  gfrey 
have  gotten  away  from  me;  they  are  fine  horses,  such  fine 
horses.  {Aside.)  He  is  a  fortune-teller:  I '11  try  my  fortune 
with  him.  {To  the  Miller.)  Say,  old  man,  I  want  to  ask 
you 

Miller.  What  is  it  you  want?  As  you  please,  I  am  at 
your  service. 

Filimdn.  That  's  good  !  And  I  '11  pay  you  for  it.  Tell 
me  my  fortune:  shall  I  find  my  horses  ? 

Miller.  Shall  you  find  your  horses  ? 

Filimdn.  That  's  it,  old  man.  I  am  very  anxious  to  find 
out  about  them. 

Miller.  Now,  how  about  that;  is  there  going  to  be  any- 
thing ?     {Stretches  out  his  hand  to  him.) 

FilimSn.  First  tell  me,  old  man,  and  then  we  '11  see. 

Miller  {turtis  away  from  him,  and  angrily  begins  a  song): 

Tell  the  fortune: 
As  the  guess  is, 
So  is  the  pay. 

Filim6n.  But,  old  man,  I  expect  to  pay  you. 

Miller.  'T  is  with  a  promise 

As  with  a  chair: 
If  you  sit  and  do  not  eat, 
Then  your  belly  is  not  full. 

FilimSn.  Believe  me,  I  am  not  lying  to  yoiL 

Miller.  If  it 's  so. 

All  this  talking  is  in  vain; 

Take  out  your  purse. 

Don't  talk  uselessly, 

Count  out  the  money. 

{Puts  out  his  hand,  and  looks  in  his  eyes.') 


Alexander  Onisimovich  Ablesimov     373 

Filim6n.  Well,  I  don't  care:  I  '11  give  you  some  money  in 
advance. 

Miller.  Only  this  ? 

Filimdn.  It  will  do  for  the  present;  what  more  do  you 
want? 

Miller  {aside^.  You  won't  get  off  with  less  than  half  a 
rouble. 

Filim6n.  What  are  you  going  to  tell  me  now  ? 

Miller.  What  is  it  now,  early  in  the  morning  ? 

Filimdn.  Not  very  late  yet,  the  sun  has  not  yet  set  behind 
the  woods. 

Miller.  Turn  three  times  around,  towards  the  sun. 

Filimdn.  What  for  ? 

Miller.  That 's  what  I  need  in  my  sorcery.  Do  as  you  are 
told! 

Filimdn.  To  please  you,  I  '11  turn  around.  {Turns  around 
once.^ 

Miller.  Once  more,  towards,  the  sun. 

Filimdn  {turning  around).  Here  it  is,  and  towards  the 
sun. 

Miller.  Now  stand  against  this  tree.  {Filimdn  is  about  to 
start  for  the  tree^  but  the  Miller  says) :  No,  no,  stop !  Have 
you  a  kerchief? 

Filimdn  {taking  out  his  handkerchief).  Here  it  is. 

Miller.  Close  your  eyes  tight,  and  tie  your  kerchief  over 
them.  That 'sail  right!  Now  listen:  you  must  stand  quiet, 
and  don't  move  from  the  spot,  nor  speak  a  word  to  anyone, 
while  I  go  and  see  the  elder. 

Filimdn  {does  all  the  Miller  commands  him  to  do).  But  sup- 
pose someone  should  come  and  ask  me  why  I  am  standing 
there,  and  why  my  eyes  are  tied  up  ? 

Miller.  Not  a  word  to  anybody;  but  you  may  grumble  to 
yourself. 

Filimdn.  May  I  sing  a  song  ? 

Miller.  You  will  frighten  all.     No,  you  must  not, 

Filimdn  {aside).  What  is  it  all  going  to  be  ? 

Miller.  Stand  still  and  don't  move! 


374  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Ippolit  F6dorovich  Bogdan6vich.    (1743-1803.) 

IppoHt  Bogdan6vich,  the  son  of  a  minor  official,  entered  the 
mathematical  school  connected  with  the  Senate  ;  at  fourteen  years  of 
age  he  began  to  study  at  the  University  and  to  write  verses  under  the 
guidance  of  Kherdskov.  He  then  served  as  secretary  of  legation  in 
Saxony,  and  later  was  connected  with  the  Government  Archives. 
His  reputation  rests  only  on  his  Psyche,  which  is  a  paraphrase  in 
verse  of  I^a  Fontaine's  Les  amours  de  Psychi  et  de  Cupidon,  itself  an 
imitation  of  an  episode  in  Apuleius's  Golden  Ass.  It  is  a  mock- 
heroic  in  the  style  of  Mdykov's  Elisty  (see  p.  263),  and  was  im- 
mensely popular  at  the  end  of  the  eighteenth  century,  and  even 
Dmitriev,  Pfishkin  and  Byelinski  found  pleasure  in  reading  it.  There 
are  traces  in  his  poems  of  an  intimate  acquaintance  with  the  Russian 
popular  literature,  from  which  are  introduced  many  characters.  The 
poem  found  so  many  admirers  because  it  was  an  expression  of  the  re- 
verse side  of  the  philosophy  of  the  eighteenth  century,  with  its 
frivolity  and  superficiality. 

PSYCHE 

FROM   BOOK   I 

The  goddess  donned  her  ancient  gala  dress,  and  seated  in 
the  shell,  as  they  paint  in  pictures,  glided  over  the  waters  on 
two  large  dolphins. 

Cupid,  bestowing  his  imperious  look,  bestirred  all  Nep- 
tune's court.  The  frisky  waves,  perceiving  Venus,  swam 
after  her,  replete  with  merriment.  The  watery  tribe  of 
Tritons  issues  to  her  from  the  abysses  of  the  waters:  one 
dives  all  about  her  and  pacifies  the  wanton  waves;  another, 
whirling  in  the  depths,  gathers  pearls  at  the  bottom  and 
drags  forth  all  the  secrets  of  the  sea  to  place  before  her  feet. 
One,  struggling  with  the  monsters,  forbids  them  to  disport 
nearby;  another,  briskly  leaping  into  the  coachman's  seat, 
scolds  loudly  those  he  meets  and  orders  them  to  stand  aside ; 
he  proudly  holds  the  lines,  and  steers  his  path  away  from 
rocks,  and  crushes  impudent  monsters.  One,  with  trident, 
precedes  her  on  a  whale  and  drives  all  far  out  of  the  way; 
he  casts  about  him  his  angry  looks  and,  that  all  may  know 
his  will,  loudly  blows  a  coral  horn ;  another,  having  come  to 
the  goddess  from  distant  regions,  bears  before  her  a  bit  from 


Ippolit  Fedorovich  Bogdan6vich      375 

a  crystal  mountain  instead  of  a  mirror.     This  sight  refreshes 
her  pleasure  and  the  joy  upon  her  brow. 

"  Oh,  if  this  sight,"  proclaims  he,  "  for  ever  remained  in 
this  crystal ! ' '  But  the  Triton's  wish  is  vain :  that  vision  will 
disappear  like  a  dream,  and  nothing  will  remain  but  the 
stone,  and  in  the  heart  a  fatal  flame  which  will  consume 
him.  Another  has  joined  the  retinue  of  the  goddess,  and 
protects  her  from  the  sun  and  cools  the  sultry  beam  by 
sending  upwards  a  stream  of  water.  Meanwhile  sirens, 
sweet  singers,  sing  verses  in  her  honour,  and  mingle  fiction 
with  truth  in  their  attempt  to  extol  her :  some  dance  before 
her;  others,  anticipating  her  wishes,  are  present  to  serve 
her,  and  with  fans  waft  coolness  to  the  goddess;  others, 
borne  on  the  crests,  breathe  heavily  in  travelling  post  from 
fields,  beloved  by  Flora,  and  bring  her  flowery  wreaths. 
Thetis  herself  has  sent  them  for  small  and  great  services, 
and  wishes  only  that  her  husband  stay  at  home.  The 
weather  being  most  favourable,  the  storms  dare  not  annoy 
her,  and  only  the  Zephyrs  are  free  to  fondle  Venus. 

FROM   BOOK  II 

Psyche  awoke  from  her  sleep  not  sooner  than  midday  past, 
nay,  one  hour  after  midday.  All  serving-maids  came  to  dress 
the  princess,  and  brought  with  them  forty  garments  and  all 
that  with  them  went.  For  that  day  Psyche  designated  the 
.simplest  of  all  gowns,  for  she  hastened  as  soon  as  possible  to 
inspect  the  marvels  of  the  palace.  I  shall  follow  in  the 
princess's  track  and  shall  present  the  mansion  to  you,  and 
describe  all  in  detail  that  could  amuse  her. 

At  first  Psyche  visited  the  rooms,  nor  left  a  corner  in 
them  where  she  did  not  pass  a  while;  thence  to  the  con- 
servatory and  to  the  balcony;  thence  on  the  veranda,  and 
down,  and  out,  to  inspect  the  house  from  all  sides.  A  bevy 
of  girls  were  slow  in  following  her;  only  the  Zephyrs  were 
fast  enough,  and  they  guarded  her,  lest  running  she  should 
fall.  Two  or  three  times  she  inspected  the  house  from 
within  and  from  without.     Meanwhile  the  Zephyrs  and 


37^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Cupids  pointed  out  the  architecture  to  her  and  all  the  mar- 
vels of  nature,  which  Psyche  was  anxious  to  inspect.  She 
wished  to  see  all,  but  knew  not  where  to  begin,  for  her  eyes 
were  distracted  now  by  one  thing,  now  by  another.  Psyche 
would  fain  have  looked  at  everything,  but  running  around 
so  much,  she  soon  became  fatigued. 

While  resting  herself,  she  looked  at  the  statues  of  famous 
masters:  those  were  likenesses  of  inimitable  beauties,  whose 
names,  in  prose  and  verse,  in  various  tales,  both  short  and 
long,  reign  immortally  among  all  the  nations  and  through 
all  the  ages:  Calisto,  Daphne,  Armene,  Niobe,  Helen,  the 
Graces,  Angelica,  Phryne,  and  a  multitude  of  other  god- 
desses and  mortal  women  appeared  before  her  eyes  in  lifelike 
form,  in  all  their  beauty  arrayed  along  the  wall.  But  in  the 
middle,  and  right  in  front  of  them.  Psyche's  image  stood  on 
an  elevated  pedestal  and  surpassed  them  all  in  beauty. 
I,ooking  at  it,  she  herself  fell  to  wondering,  and,  beside  her- 
self with  wonderment,  stopped:  then  you  might  have  per- 
ceived another  statue  in  her,  such  as  the  world  had  never 
seen. 

Psyche  would  have  stayed  there  a  long  time,  looking  at 
her  image  that  held  sway  over  her,  if  her  servants  who  were 
with  her  had  not  pointed  out  in  other  places,  for  the  pleasure 
of  her  eyes,  other  likenesses  of  her  beauty  and  glory :  up  to 
her  waist,  her  feet,  her  lifelike  form,  of  gold,  of  silver,  of 
bronze,  of  steel,  her  heads,  and  busts,  and  medals;  and  else- 
where mosaic,  or  marble,  or  agate  represented  in  these  forms 
a  new  splendour.  In  other  places  Apelles,  or  the  god  of 
artists  who  with  his  hand  had  moved  Apelles' s  brush,  had 
pictured  Psyche  in  all  her  beauty,  such  as  no  man  could 
have  imagined  before. 

But  does  she  wish  to  see  herself  in  pictures?  Here, 
Zephyrs  bring  her  Pomona's  horn  and,  strewing  flowers  be- 
fore her,  disport  with  her  in  vales;  in  another,  she  with 
mighty  buckler  in  her  hands,  dressed  as  Pallas,  threatens 
from  her  steed,  with  her  fair  looks  more  than  with  her  spear, 
and  vanquishes  the  hearts  through  a  pleasant  plague. 
There  stands  Saturn  before  her:  toothless,  baldheaded  and 


Gavriil  Romano vich  Derzhavin       377 

grey,  with  new  wrinkles  on  his  old  face,  he  tries  to  appear 
young:  he  curls  his  sparse  tufts  of  hair,  and,  to  see  Psyche, 
puts  on  his  glasses.  There,  again,  she  is  seen  like  a  queen, 
with  Cupids  all  around  her,  in  an  aerial  chariot:  to  celebrate 
fair  Psyche's  honour  and  beauty,  the  Cupids  in  their  flight 
shoot  hearts;  they  fly  in  a  large  company,  all  carrying 
quivers  over  their  shoulders,  and,  taking  pride  in  her  beauti- 
ful eyes,  raise  their  crossbows  and  proclaim  war  to  the  whole 
world.  There,  again,  fierce  Mars,  the  destroyer  of  the  law  of 
peace,  perceiving  Psyche,  becomes  gen^e  of  manner:  he  no 
longer  stains  the  fields  with  blood,  and  finally,  forgetting 
his  rules  of  war,  lies  humbled  at  her  feet  and  glows  with  love 
to  her.  There,  again,  she  is  pictured  among  the  Pleasures 
that  precede  her  everywhere  and  by  the  invention  of  varied 
games  call  forth  a  pleasant  smile  upon  her  face.  In  another 
place  the  Graces  surround  the  princess  and  adorn  her  with 
various  flowers,  while  Zephyr,  gently  wafting  about  her, 
paints  her  picture  to  adorn  the  world  with;  but,  jealous  of 
licentious  glances,  he  curbs  the  minds  of  the  lovers  of  licen- 
tiousness, or,  perchance,  shunning  rebellious  critics,  hides 
in  the  painting  the  greater  part  of  her  beauties,  though,  as 
is  well  known,  before  Psyche  those  beauties  of  themselves 
appear  in  the  pictures. 

In  order  that  various  objects,  meeting  her  eyes,  should 
not  weary  her,  her  portraits  alone  were  placed  upon  the 
wall,  in  simple  and  in  festive  gowns,  or  in  masquerade  attire. 
Psyche,  you  are  beautiful  in  any  attire:  whether  you  be 
dressed  as  a  queen,  or  whether  you  be  seated  by  the  tent  as 
a  shepherdess.  In  all  garments  you  are  the  wonder  of  the 
world,  in  all  you  appear  as  a  goddess,  and  but  you  alone  are 
more  beautiful  than  your  portrait. 

Gavriil  Romdnovich  Derzhdvin.    (1743-1816.) 

Derzhdvin  was  bom  near  Kazdn,  deriving  his  descent  from  a  Tartar 
Murza,  and  passed  his  childhood  in  the  east,  in  the  Government  of 
Orenburg.  His  early  education  was  very  scanty.  In  his  fourteenth 
year  his  mother  hastened  with  him  to  Moscow  to  enter  him  for 
future  service  as  the  son  of  a  nobleman  ;  but,  her  means  being  ex- 
hausted, she  returned  with  him  to  Kazdn,  where  she  placed  him  in 


378  The  Eighteenth  Century 

the  newly  opened  Gymnasium.  Even  here  the  lack  of  good  teachers 
precluded  his  getting  any  thorough  instruction  ;  his  only  positive 
gain  was  a  smattering  of  German,  which  was  to  help  him  later  in  ac- 
quainting himself  with  the  productions  of  the  German  Muse.  In 
1762  he  entered  the  regiment  of  the  Transfiguration  (Preobrazh6nski) 
as  a  common  soldier.  Whatever  time  he  could  call  his  own  in  the 
crowded  and  dingy  barracks  in  which  he  passed  eight  years  of  his 
life  he  devoted  to  reading  and  to  imitations  of  Russian  and  German 
verse.  In  1772  he  was  made  a  commissioned  ofiBcer,  and  was  em- 
ployed to  quell  the  Pugach6v  rebellion. 

It  was  only  in  1779  ^^^  Derzhdvin  began  to  write  in  a  more  inde- 
pendent strain  ;  one  of  the  best  odes  of  this  new  period  is  his  Monody 
on  the  Death  of  Prince  Meshcherski.  But  the  one  that  gave  him  his 
greatest  reputation  was  his  Felitsa,  with  which  began  a  new  epoch  in 
Russian  poetr}-.  Lomon6sov,  Sumar6kov,  Tredyak6vski,  and  a  num- 
ber of  minor  poets  had  flooded  Russian  literature  with  lifeless  odes  in 
the  French  pseudo-classic  style,  written  for  all  possible  occasions,  and 
generally  to  order.  Just  as  a  reaction  was  setting  in  against  them  in 
the  minds  of  the  best  people,  Derzhdvin  proved  by  his  Felitsa  that  an 
ode  could  possess  other  characteristics  than  those  sanctioned  by  the 
French  school.  In  1782  he  occupied  a  position  in  the  Senate  under 
the  Procurator-General  Vydzemski.  He  had  an  exalted  opinion  of 
Catherine,  whom  he  had  not  yet  met,  and  he  spoke  with  full  sincerity 
of  her  in  his  ode.  The  name  Felitsa  was  suggested  to  him  by  the 
princess  in  her  moral  fable  (see  p.  276  et  seq.).  The  chief  interest  in 
the  ode  for  contemporary  society  lay  in  the  bold  attacks  that  Der- 
zhdvin  made  on  the  foibles  of  the  dignitaries.  Its  literary  value  con- 
sists in  the  fact  that  it  was  the  first  attempt  at  a  purely  colloquial 
tone  of  playful  banter,  in  a  kind  of  poetic  composition  formerly 
characterised  by  a  stilted  language,  replete  with  Church-Slavic  words 
and  biblical  allusions.  Numerous  are  the  references  made  by  the 
poets  of  the  day  to  the  Singer  of  Felitsa  (see  p.  358  et  seq.) ;  they  all 
felt  that  Derzhdvin  had  inaug^ated  a  new  era,  that  the  period  which 
had  begun  with  Lomon6sov's  Capture  of  Khotin  was  virtually  over. 

Catherine  made  Derzbdvin  Governor  of  016netsk,  and  later  of 
Tamb6v ;  but  neither  in  these  high  oflBces,  nor  later,  when  Paul  ap- 
pointed him  Chief  of  the  Chancery  of  the  Imperial  Council,  and 
Alexander  I.  made  him  Minister  of  Justice,  was  he  successful.  His 
excitable  temperament,  combined  with  a  stem  love  of  truth  which 
brooked  no  compromise,  made  him  everywhere  impossible.  Of  the 
many  productions  which  he  wrote  after  Felitsa,  none  gained  such 
wide  popularity  as  his  Ode  to  God.  Though  parts  of  it  bear  strong 
resemblance  to  similar  odes  by  Klopstock,  Haller,  Brockes,  and  to 
passages  in  Young's  Night  Thoughts,  yet  the  whole  is  so  far  superior 


Gavriil  Romano vich  Derzhavin       379 

to  any  of  them  that  it  soon  was  translated  into  all  European  lan- 
guages, and  also  into  Japanese ;  there  are  not  less  than  fifteen  ver- 
sions of  it  in  French.  Derzhdvin  lived  to  hear  Pushkin  recite  one  of 
his  poems  and  to  proclaim  him  his  spiritual  successor.  The  follow- 
ing translations  of  Derzhdviu's  poems  in  English  are  known  to  me : 

God,  On  the  Death  of  Meshcherski,  The  Water/all,  The  Lord  and 
the  Judge,  On  the  Death  of  Count  Or  lov.  Song  (The  Little  Bee),  va. 
Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the  Russian  Poets,  Part  I.;  To  a 
Neighbour,  The  ShipTvreck,  Fragment,  ib.,  Part  II.;  To  God,  The 
Storm,  in  William  D.  Lewis's  The  Bakchesarian  Fountain,  Philadel- 
phia, 1849;  The  Stream  of  Tim.e,  in  J.  Pollen's  Rhymes  from  the 
Russian ;  Droxvning,  by  N.  H.  Dole ;  Ode  to  the  Deity,  by  J.  K. 
Stallybrass,  in  The  Leisure  Hour,  London,  1870,  May  2 ;  Ode  to 
God,  by  N.  H.  Dole,  in  The  Chautauquan,  vol.  x  ;  On  the  Death  of 
Meshcherski,  in  C.  E.  Turner's  Studies  in  Russian  Literature^  and 
the  same  in  Eraser's  Magazine,  1877. 

ODE  TO  THE  DEITY 

O  Thou  infinite  in  being ; 

Living  'midst  the  change  of  all; 
Thou  eternal  through  time's  fleeing; 

Formless — Three-in-one  withal ! 
Spirit  filling  all  creation, 
Who  hast  neither  source  nor  station; 

Whom  none  reach,  howe'er  they  plod; 
Who  with  Thine  existence  fillest, 
Claspest,  mouldest  as  Thou  wiliest, 

Keepest  all ;  whom  we  call — God ! 

Though  the  lofty  mind  could  measure 

Deepest  seas,  and  count  the  sand, 
Of  the  starry  rays  the  treasure, 

Thou  no  number  hast,  no  strand ! 
Highest  souls  by  Thee  created, 
To  Thy  service  consecrated. 

Ne'er  could  trace  Thy  counsels  high; 
Soon  as  thought  to  Thee  aspireth, 
In  Thy  greatness  it  expireth, 

Moment  in  eternity. 


380  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Thou  didst  call  the  ancient  chaos 

From  eternity's  vast  sea: 
On  Thyself,  ere  time  did  ray  us, 

Thou  didst  found  eternity. 
By  Thyself  Thyself  sustaining, 
From  Thyself  unaided  shining, 

Thou  art  Light — light  flows  from  Thee; 
By  Thy  words  all  things  creating, 
Thy  creation  permeating. 

Thou  wast,  art  and  aye  shalt  be. 

All  existence  Thou  containest 

In  Thee,  quick' nest  with  Thy  breath; 
End  to  the  beginning  chainest; 

And  Thou  givest  life  through  death. 
Life  as  sparks  spring  from  the  fire. 
Suns  are  born  from  Thee,  great  sire: 

As,  in  cold  clear  wintry  day, 
Spangles  of  the  frost  shine,  sparkling. 
Turning,  wavering,  glittering,  darkling, 

Shine  the  stars  beneath  Thy  ray. 

All  the  million  lights,  that  wander 

Silent  through  immensity, 
Thy  behests  fulfil,  and  squander 

Living  rays  throughout  the  sky. 
But  those  lamps  of  living  fire, 
Crystals  soaring  ever  higher, 

Golden  waves  in  rich  array, 
Wondrous  orbs  of  burning  ether, 
Or  bright  worlds  that  cling  together, 

Are  to  Thee  as  night  to  day. 

Like  a  drop  in  sea  before  Thee 

Is  the  firmament  on  high : 
What 's  the  universe  of  glory, 

And  before  Thee  what  am  I  ? 
In  yon  vast  aerial  ocean 


Gavriil  Romano vich  Derzhavin       381 

Could  I  count  those  worlds  in  motion, 

Adding  millions  to  them — aught 
I  could  fancy  or  decipher, 
By  Thy  side  is  but  a  cipher; 

And  before  Thee  I  am — naught ! 

Naught!     And  yet  in  rae  Thou  rayest, 

By  Thy  gift  and  through  Thy  Son: 
In  me  Thou  Thyself  portrayest, 

As  in  one  small  drop  the  sun. 
Naught !    Yet  life  I  feel  throughout  me, 
And,  content  with  naught  about  me, 

Upward  fly  with  eager  heart. 
That  Thou  art,  my  soul  supposes, 
Tries,  and  with  this  reas'ning  closes: 

"  Sure  I  am,  hence  Thou  too  art." 

Yes,  Thou  art — all  nature  tells  me; 

Whispers  back  my  heart  the  thought; 
Reason  now  to  this  impels  me : 

Since  Thou  art,  I  am  not  naught! 
Part  of  Thine  entire  creation, 
Set  in  nature's  middle  station 

By  Thine  order  I  abide; 
Where  Thou  endest  forms  terrestrial 
And  beginnest  souls  celestial. 

Chains  of  beings  by  me  tied. 

I  'm  the  link  of  worlds  existing, 

Last  high  grade  of  matter  I, 
Centre  of  all  life  subsisting, 

First  touch  of  divinity. 
Death  to  dust  my  body  sunders: 
In  my  mind  I  wield  the  thunders. 

I  'm  a  king,  a  slave  to  Thee: 
I  'm  a  worm,  a  god!    Whence  hither 
Came  I,  wonderful  ?    Oh,  whither  ? 

By  myself  I  could  not  be. 


382  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Thine  am  I,  Thou  great  Creator, 

Outcome  of  Thy  wisdom  sole; 
Fount  of  life,  blest  conservator; 

Of  my  soul  the  king  and  soul! 
Needful  to  Thy  just  decreeing 
Was  it  that  my  deathless  being 

Pass  to  Thee  through  death's  abyss: 
That  my  soul,  in  body  vested, 
Wend,  by  death  refined  and  tested, 

Father,  to  Thy  deathlessness. 

Traceless  One,  unfathomable ! 

Now  I  cannot  see  Thy  face: 
My  imagining  's  too  feeble 

E'en  Thy  shadow  here  to  trace; 
But,  if  we  must  sing  Thy  glory, 
Feeble  mortals,  to  adore  Thee 

In  a  worthy  attitude, 
We  must  rise  to  Thee  to  wreathe  Thee, 
Lost  in  distance  far  beneath  Thee, 

And — shed  tears  of  gratitude. 
— Translated  by  J.  K.  Stallybrass,  in  The  Leisure 
Hour,  London,  1870,  May  2. 

MONODY  ON   PRINCE   MESHCHERSKI  * 

O  iron  tongue  of  Time,  with  thy  sharp  metallic  tone, 

Thy  terrible  voice  affrights  me : 

Each  beat  of  the  clock  summons  me, 

Calls  me  and  hurries  me  to  the  grave. 

Scarcely  have  I  opened  my  eyes  upon  the  world, 

Ere  Death  grinds  his  teeth. 

And  with  his  scythe,  that  gleams  like  lightning, 

Cuts  off  my  days,  which  are  but  grass. 

'  Alexander  Ivdnovich  Meshchdrski  was  the  president  of  the  St. 
Petersburg  magistracy,  and  later  served  in  the  Chief  Customs 
Chancery.  Both  he  and  his  friend  Perfilev,  mentioned  at  the  end  of 
the  monody,  led  a  life  of  luxury. 


Gavriil  Romanovich  Derzhavin       383 

Not  one  of  the  horned  beasts  of  the  field, 

Not  a  single  blade  of  grass  escapes, 

Monarch  and  beggar  alike  are  food  for  the  worm. 

The  noxious  elements  feed  the  grave, 

And  Time  effaces  all  human  glory ; 

As  the  swift  waters  rush  towards  the  sea. 

So  our  days  and  years  flow  into  Eternity, 

And  empires  are  swallowed  up  by  greedy  Death. 

We  crawl  along  the  edge  of  the  treacherous  abyss, 

Into  which  we  quickly  fall  headlong: 

With  our  first  breath  of  life  we  inhale  death. 

And  are  only  born  that  we  may  die. 

Stars  are  shivered  by  him, 

And  suns  are  momentarily  quenched. 

Each  world  trembles  at  his  menace, 

And  Death  unpityingly  levels  all. 

The  mortal  scarcely  thinks  that  he  can  die, 
And  idly  dreams  himself  immortal, 
When  Death  comes  to  him  as  a  thief. 
And  in  an  instant  robs  him  of  his  life. 
Alas !  where  fondly  we  fear  the  least. 
There  will  Death  the  sooner  come; 
Nor  does  the  lightning-bolt  with  swifter  blast 
Topple  down  the  towering  pinnacle. 

Child  of  luxury,  child  of  freshness  and  delight, 

Meshch6rski,  where  hast  thou  hidden  thyself  ? 

Thou  hast  left  the  realms  of  light. 

And  withdrawn  to  the  shores  of  the  dead ; 

Thy  dust  is  here,  but  thy  soul  is  no  more  with  us. 

Where  is  it  ?   It  is  there.    Where  is  there  ?  We  know  not. 

We  can  only  weep  and  sob  forth. 

Woe  to  us  that  we  were  ever  born  into  the  world ! 

They  who  are  radiant  with  health, 
lyove  and  joy  and  peace. 
Feel  their  blood  run  cold 


384  The  Eighteenth  Century 

And  their  souls  to  be  fretted  with  woe. 

Where  but  now  was  spread  a  banquet,  there  stands  a  coffin : 

Where  but  now  rose  mad  cries  of  revelry, 

There  resounds  the  bitter  wailing  of  mourners; 

And  over  all  keeps  Death  his  watch, — 

Watches  us  one  and  all, — the  mighty  Tsar 

Within  whose  hands  are  lodged  the  destinies  of  a  world ; 

Watches  the  sumptuous  Dives, 

Who  makes  of  gold  and  silver  his  idol-gods; 

Watches  the  fair  beauty  rejoicing  in  her  charms; 

Watches  the  sage,  proud  of  his  intellect; 

Watches  the  strong  man,  confident  in  his  strength; 

And,  even  as  he  watches,  sharpens  the  blade  of  his  scythe. 

O  Death,  thou  essence  of  fear  and  trembling! 

0  Man,  thou  strange  mixture  of  grandeur  and  of  nothingness! 
To-day  a  god,  and  to-morrow  a  patch  of  earth: 

To-day  buoyed  up  with  cheating  hope, 

And  to-morrow,  where  art  thou,  Man  ? 

Scarce  an  hour  of  triumph  allowed  thee 

Ere  thou  hast  taken  thy  flight  to  the  realms  of  Chaos, 

And  thy  whole  course  of  life,  a  dream,  is  run. 

Like  a  dream,  like  some  sweet  vision, 
Already  my  youth  has  vanished  quite. 
Beauty  no  longer  enjoys  her  potent  sway, 
Gladness  no  more,  as  once,  entrances  me, 
My  mind  is  no  longer  free  and  fanciful. 
And  all  my  happiness  is  changed. 

1  am  troubled  with  a  longing  for  fame; 
I  listen ;  the  voice  of  fame  now  calls  me. 

But  even  so  will  manhood  pass  away, 

And  together  with  fame  all  my  aspirations. 

The  love  of  wealth  will  tarnish  all, 

And  each  passion  in  its  turn 

Will  sway  the  soul  and  pass. 

Avaunt,  happiness,  that  boasts  to  be  within  our  grasp ! 


Gavriil  Romanovich  Derzh^vin       385 

All  happiness  is  but  evanescent  and  a  lie: 
I  stand  at  the  gate  of  Eternity. 

To-day  or  to-morrow  we  must  die, 

Perfilev,  and  all  is  ended. 

Why,  then,  lament  or  be  afflicted 

That  thy  friend  did  not  live  for  ever  ? 

Life  is  but  a  momentary  loan  from  Heaven: 

Spend  it  then  in  resignation  and  in  peace. 

And  with  a  pure  soul 

Learn  to  kiss  the  chastening  rod. 

— From  C.  E.  Turner's  Studies  in  Russian  Literature^ 
and  the  same  in  Eraser's  Magazine,  1877. 

FELITSA  ' 

Godlike  queen  of  the  Kirgiz-Kaysdk  horde,"  whose  incom- 
parable wisdom  discovered  the  true  path  for  the  young  Tsar- 
^vich  Khlor,  by  which  to  climb  the  high  mountain  where 
grows  the  rose  without  prickles,  where  virtue  dwells  that  cap- 
tivates my  soul  and  my  mind !     Oh,  teach  me  how  to  find  it! 

Instruct  me,  Felftsa,  how  to  live  voluptuously,  yet  justly; 
how  to  tame  the  storm  of  passions,  and  be  happy  in  the  world. 
Your  voice  enthuses  me,  your  son  guides  me,  but  I  am  weak 
to  follow  them.  Disturbed  by  worldly  cares,  I  control  my- 
self to-day,  to-morrow  am  a  slave  of  my  caprices. 

You  do  not  emulate  your  Murzas,'  and  frequently  go  on 
foot;  the  simplest  food  is  served  at  your  table.  You  disdain 
your  rest,  and  read  and  write  by  the  tallow  dip,  and  from 
your  pen  flows  bliss  to  all  the  mortals.*  Nor  do  you  play 
cards,  like  me,  from  morning  until  morning.* 

You  do  not  care  overmuch  for  masquerades,  and  do  not 

'  See  Catherine  II. 's  Prince  Khlor,  p.  280. 

'  Catherine  had  some  villages  in  the  Government  of  Orenburg,  near 
the  settlements  of  the  Kirgiz-Kaysdk  horde, — hence  the  name  given 
her  by  Derzhdvin. 

'  Tartar  chiefs,  but  courtiers  are  meant  here. 

*  Through  the  promulgation  of  her  laws. 

*  Derzhdvin  was  much  addicted  to  gambling  in  his  early  life,  and 
had  even  tried  to  mend  his  fortune  by  cheating. 

VOL.  I, — 25. 


386  The  Eighteenth  Century 

set  your  foot  into  a  club.  You  keep  old  customs  and  habits, 
and  make  no  Don  Quixote  of  yourself.  You  do  not  saddle 
the  steed  of  Parnassus,'  do  not  attend  the  stances,  to  see 
spirits,*  do  not  go  to  the  East '  from  your  throne;  but,  walk- 
ing on  the  path  of  humility,  your  gracious  soul  passes  an 
even  tenor  of  useful  days. 

But  I  sleep  until  noon,  smoke  tobacco  and  drink  coffee. 
I  change  the  work-days  into  holidays,  and  live  in  a  whirl  of 
chimerical  thoughts:  I  now  take  booty  from  the  Persians, 
now  direct  my  arrows  to  the  Turks;  now,  imagining  myself 
to  be  the  Sultan,  I  make  the  world  tremble  with  my  looks; 
or,  suddenly  attracted  by  a  sumptuous  garment,  I  hasten  to 
the  tailor  for  a  new  caftan.* 

Or  I  am  at  a  sumptuous  feast,  where  they  celebrate  in  my 
honour,  where  the  table  sparkles  with  its  silver  and  gold, 
where  there  are  a  thousand  different  courses, — here  the 
famous  Westphalian  bacon,  there  slices  of  Astrakhan  fish, 
there  stand  the  pilau  and  the  cakes, — I  drink  champagne 
after  my  waffles  and  forget  everything  in  the  world  'midst 
wine,  sweetmeats  and  perfumes. 

Or,  'midst  a  beautiful  grove,  in  an  arbour,  where  the 
fountain  plashes,  by  the  sound  of  a  sweet- voiced  harp,  where 
the  zephyr  scarcely  breathes,  where  everything  inclines  to 
luxury,  and  entices  the  mind  to  joy,  and  the  blood  becomes 
now  languid,  now  flows  warm,  inclining  upon  a  velvet 
divan,  I  rouse  the  tender  feelings  of  a  young  maiden,  and 
inspire  her  heart  with  love. 

Or,  in  a  magnificent  tandem,  in  a  gilded  English  carriage, 
I  drive  with  a  dog,  a  fool,  or  friend,  or  fair  maiden  to  the 
Swings,  or  stop  at  the  taverns  to  drink  mead;  or,  when  I 
get  tired  of  that,  for  I  am  inclined  to  change,  fly,  with  my 
cap  posed  jauntily,  on  a  mettled  steed. 

■  Catherine  was  not  successful  as  a  versifier. 

'She  loved  neither  Masons  nor  Martinists,  who  were  a  kind  of 
precursors  of  the  modern  spiritualists. 

'  Name  of  a  Masonic  lodge. 

*The  reference  is  to  Potdmkin,  his  dreams  of  conquering  India  and 
Persia,  his  foppery,  his  sumptuous  feasts. 


Gavriil  Romanovich  Derzh4vin       3^7 

Or  I  delight  my  soul  with  music  and  singers,  the  organ 
and  flute,  or  boxing  and  the  dance.'  Or,  dropping  all  care 
of  business,  go  on  the  chase,  and  take  pleasure  in  the  bark- 
ing of  the  hounds";  or,  on  the  banks  of  the  Neva,  enjoy  at 
night  the  sound  of  horns  and  the  rowing  of  agile  oarsmen.* 

Or,  staying  at  home,  pass  my  time  playing  ' '  Old  Maid ' ' 
with  my  wife;  or  we  climb  together  into  the  dove-cot,  or,  at 
times,  play  Blindman's  Buff  with  her,  or  svayka,*  or  have 
her  examine  my  head ;  or  I  love  to  pore  over  books,  to  en- 
lighten my  mind  and  heart,  that  is,  I  read  Pulicane  and 
Bovo,"  or  yawn  and  fall  asleep  over  the  Bible. 

Such  are  my  debauches,  Felitsa!  But  the  whole  world 
resembles  me,  no  matter  if  one  passes  for  a  sage :  every  man 
is  a  living  lie.  We  travel  not  by  the  paths  of  light,  we  run 
after  the  whims  of  pleasure.  'Twixt  the  Indolent  and  the 
Choleric,"  'twixt  vanity  and  vice,  one  seldom  finds  the 
straight  road  to  virtue. 

Suppose  we  have  found  it!  How  are  we  weak  mortals 
not  to  blunder,  where  even  Reason  stumbles  and  follows 
after  passions,  where  learned  ignoramuses  bedim  our  heads 
as  the  mist  bedims  the  wanderers  ?  Temptation  and  flattery 
dwell  everywhere,  and  luxury  oppresses  all  the  pashas. 
Where,  then,  dwells  virtue  ?  Where  grows  the  rose  without 
prickles  ? 

It  becomes  you  alone,  O  Empress,  to  create  light  from 
darkness,  dividing  chaos  harmoniously  in  spheres,  to  firmly 
unite  them  by  a  common  bond;  you  alone  can  bring  forth 
concord  out  of  discord,  and  happiness  out  of  violent  passions: 

*  Characterisation  of  A.  G.  Orl6v. 
«  P.  I.  Pdnin. 

•Allusion  to  S.  K.  Naryshkin,  who  had  introduced  wind  instru- 
ments, where  each  player  played  but  one  note. 

*  A  game  which  consists  of  throwing  a  large  nail  into  a  ring. 

*  Famous  popular  novels  much  in  vogue  in  all  Europe  ;  the  latter 
is  the  English  Bevys  of  Hamptoun  ;  the  allusion  is  here  to  the  rude 
manners  of  Prince  Vydzemski. 

•Lentydg  and  Bryuzga  of  Catherine's  Prince  Khlor,  by  whom  she 
meant  Pot^mkin  and  Vydzemski. 


388  The  Eighteenth  Century 

thus  the  sailor,  crossing  the  sea,  catches  the  gale  in  his 
sails  and  safely  guides  his  ship. 

You  alone  hurt  not,  nor  injure  anyone;  though  you  may 
connive  at  stupidity,  you  tolerate  no  mean  act;  you  treat 
peccadillos  with  condescension.  You  do  not  choke  people, 
as  the  wolf  chokes  the  sheep,  but  j'ou  know  their  worth: 
they  are  subject  to  the  will  of  kings,  but  more  to  righteous 
God  who  lives  in  their  laws. 

You  judge  soundly  of  merits,  and  mete  out  honour  to  the 
deserving:  you  deem  him  not  a  prophet  who  merely  makes 
rhymes.  And  as  for  that  entertainment  of  the  mind, — the 
honour  and  glory  of  good  caliphs,  the  lyric  strain  to  which 
you  condescend, —  poetry  is  pleasing  to  you,  acceptable, 
soothing,  useful, — like  a  refreshing  lemonade  in  summer. 

Rumour  tells  of  you  that  you  are  not  in  the  least  haughty, 
that  you  are  pleasant  in  business  and  in  jest,  agreeable  in 
friendship  and  firm;  that  you  are  indifferent  to  misfortune, 
and  so  magnanimous  in  glory  that  you  refused  to  be  called 
*'  Wise."  '  Again,  they  justly  say  that  one  may  always  tell 
you  the  truth. 

This,  too,  is  an  unheard-of  thing  and  worthy  of  you  alone: 
you  permit  the  people  boldly  to  know  and  think  all,*  openly 
or  in  secret;  nor  do  you  forbid  them  to  say  of  you  what  is 
true  or  false;  and  you  are  always  prone  to  forgive  those 
crocodiles,  the  Zoiluses  of  all  your  benefactions. 

Rivers  of  joyful  tears  stream  from  the  depth  of  my  heart. 
Oh,  how  happy  the  people  must  be  there  with  their  fate, 

'  In  1767  the  Senate  and  deputies,  who  had  been  invited  to  present 
a  project  for  a  new  code  of  laws,  proposed  a  title  for  the  Empress 
"  Great,  Most  Wise,  and  Mother  of  the  Country,"  but  she  declined  it, 

'This  and  the  following  lines  refer  to  the  reign  of  Empress  Anna, 
when  the  least  inattention  to  the  minutest  details  of  Imperial  pre- 
rogatives brought  about  the  severest  persecution :  it  was  sufficient 
not  to  empty  a  beaker  which  was  drunk  to  her  health,  or  to  scratch 
out  or  correct  her  name  in  a  document,  or  to  drop  a  coin  with  her 
picture  upon  it,  in  order  to  be  immediately  denounced  to  the  secret 
police.  Then  follows  the  reference  to  the  ice  palace  in  which  the 
marriage  of  the  Court  fool,  Prince  Golitsyn,  was  celebrated  ;  the  other 
Court  fools  of  the  day  were  the  Princes  Volk6nski  and  Aprdksin. 


Gavriil  Romanovich  Derzh^vin       389 

•where  a  meek,  peaceful  angel,  clad  in  porphyry  splendour, 
wields  the  heaven-sent  sceptre!  There  one  may  whisper 
conversations  and,  without  fearing  punishment,  at  dinners 
not  drink  the  health  of  kings. 

There  one  may  erase  Felitsa's  name  in  the  line,  or  care- 
lessly drop  her  portrait  on  the  ground.  There  they  do  not 
celebrate  preposterous  weddings,  and  steam  people  in  ice 
baths,  and  pull  the  mustaches  of  dignitaries;  princes  do  not 
cackle  like  sitting  hens,  nor  favourites  laugh  loud  at  them 
and  smear  their  faces  with  soot. 

You  know,  O  Felitsa,  the  rights  of  men  and  kings.  While 
you  enlighten  the  manners,  you  do  not  turn  men  into  fools. 
In  your  moments  of  rest  you  write  fables  for  instruction  and 
teach  the  alphabet  to  Khlor :  * '  Dq  no  wrong,  and  you  will 
cause  the  bitterest  satirist  to  become  a  hated  prevaricator." 

You  are  ashamed  to  be  called  great,  lest  you  be  feared  and 
hated:  it  becomes  only  a  wild  she-bear  to  tear  animals  and 
suck  their  blood.  Need  one  have  recourse  to  the  lancet, 
unless  in  extreme  fever,  when  one  can  get  along  without  it  ? 
And  is  it  glorious  to  be  a  tyrant,  a  great  Tamerlane  in 
cruelty,  where  one  is  great  in  goodness,  like  God  ? 

Felitsa's  glory  is  the  glory  of  a  god  who  has  calmed  strife, 
who  has  covered,  dressed  and  fed  the  orphaned  and  the 
poor;  whose  radiant  eye  emits  its  light  to  fools,  cowards, 
ungrateful  people  and  the  just,  and  enlightens  alike  all  mor- 
tals, soothes,  cures  the  sick, — does  good  for  good's  sake; 

Who  has  given  the  liberty  to  travel  to  other  lands,  has 
permitted  his  people  to  seek  gold  and  silver;  who  makes  the 
waters  free,  and  does  not  prohibit  cutting  down  the  woods; 
who  orders  to  weave,  and  spin,  and  sew;  who,  freeing  the 
mind  and  the  hands,  orders  to  love  commerce  and  the 
sciences,  and  to  find  happiness  at  home ; 

Whose  law  and  hand  distribute  favours  and  justice.  An- 
nounce, wise  Felitsa,  where  is  the  villain  separated  from  the 
honest  man  ?  Where  does  old  age  not  go  a-begging,  and 
merit  find  its  bread  ?  Where  does  revenge  not  drive  any- 
one ?  Where  dwells  conscience  with  truth  ?  Where  shine 
virtues  ? — if  not  at  your  throne  ? 


390  The  Eighteenth  Century 

But  where  does  your  throue  shine  in  the  world  ?  Where 
do  you  flourish,  celestial  branch  ?  In  Bagdad,  Smyrna, 
Cashmir  ?  Listen :  wherever  you  may  live  and  my  praises 
reach  you,  think  not  that  I  wish  a  hat  or  caftan  for  them. 
To  feel  the  charm  of  goodness  is  for  the  soul  a  wealth  such 
as  even  Croesus  did  not  possess. 

I  pray  the  great  prophet  that  I  may  touch  the  dust  of 
your  feet,  that  I  may  enjoy  the  sweet  stream  of  your  words 
and  your  look.  I  entreat  the  heavenly  powers  that  they 
extend  their  sapphire  wings  and  invisibly  guard  you  from 
all  diseases,  evils  and  ennui,  that  the  renown  of  your  deeds 
may  shine  in  posterity  like  stars  in  the  heavens, 

FROM    "THE   WATERFALL" 

Lo !  like  a  glorious  pile  of  diamonds  bright, 
Built  on  the  steadfast  cliEFs,  the  waterfall 
Pours  forth  its  gems  of  pearl  and  silver  light: 
They  sink,  they  rise,  and  sparkling  cover  all 
With  infinite  refulgence;  while  its  song. 
Sublime  as  thunder,  rolls  the  woods  along, — 

Rolls  through  the  woods, — they  send  its  accents  back, 
Whose  last  vibration  in  the  desert  dies: 
Its  radiance  glances  o'er  the  watery  track, 
Till  the  soft  wave,  as  wrapt  in  slumber,  lies 
Beneath  the  forest  shade ;  then  sweetly  flows 
A  milky  stream,  all  silent,  as  it  goes. 

Its  foam  is  scattered  on  the  margent  bound. 
Skirting  the  darksome  grove.     But  list !  the  hum 
Of  industry,  the  rattling  hammer's  sound. 
Files  whizzing,  creaking  sluices,  echoed  come 
On  the  fast-travelling  breeze !     Oh  no,  no  voice 
Is  heard  around  but  thy  majestic  noise! 

When  the  mad  storm-wind  tears  the  oak  asunder, 
In  thee  its  shivered  fragments  find  their  tomb; 
When  rocks  are  riven  by  the  bolt  of  thunder, 


Gavriil  Romano vich  Derzhavin       391 

As  sands  they  sink  into  thy  mighty  womb : 
The  ice  that  would  imprison  thy  proud  tide 
Like  bits  of  broken  glass  is  scattered  wide. 

The  fierce  wolf  prowls  around  thee — there  it  stands 
Listening, — not  fearful,  for  he  nothing  fears: 
His  red  eyes  burn  like  fury-kindled  brands, 
Like  bristles  o'er  him  his  coarse  fur  he  rears; 
Howling,  thy  dreadful  roar  he  oft  repeats, 
And,  more  ferocious,  hastes  to  bloodier  feats. 

The  wild  stag  hears  thy  falling  waters'  sound. 
And  tremblingly  flies  forward, — o'er  her  back 
She  bends  her  stately  horns,  the  noiseless  ground 
Her  hurried  feet  impress  not,  and  her  track 
Is  lost  among  the  tumult  of  the  breeze, 
And  the  leaves  falling  from  the  rustling  trees. 

The  wild  horse  thee  approaches  in  his  turn: 
He  changes  not  his  proudly  rapid  stride; 
His  mane  stands  up  erect,  his  nostrils  bum, 
He  snorts,  he  pricks  his  ears,  and  starts  aside; 
Then  rushing  madly  forward  to  thy  steep, 
He  dashes  down  into  thy  torrents  deep. 

— From  Sir  John  Bo  wring's  Specimens  of  the 
Russian  Poets^  Part  I. 

THE  STORM 

As  my  bark  in  the  restless  ocean 
Mounts  its  rough  and  foaming  hills, 

Whilst  its  waves  in  dark  commotion 
Pass  me,  hope  my  bosom  fills. 

Who,  when  warring  clouds  are  gleaming, 

Quenches  the  destructive  spark  ? 
Say  what  hand,  what  safety's  beaming, 

Guides  through  rocks  my  little  bark  ? 

Thou,  Creator,  all  o'erseeing, 
In  this  scene  preserv'st  me  dread! 


392  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Thou,  without  whose  word  decreeing 
Not  a  hair  falls  from  my  head ! 

Thou  in  life  hast  doubly  blest  me, 
All  my  soul  to  Thee  's  revealed, — 

Thou  amongst  the  great  hast  placed  me, — 
Be  'midst  them  my  guide  and  shield! 

— From  W.  D.  Lewis's  The  Bakchesarian  Fountain. 

THE  STREAM  OF  TIME* 

The  stream  of  time,  with  onward  sweep, 
Bears  off  men's  works,  all  human  things, 
And  plunges  o'er  Oblivion's  steep 
Peoples  and  kingdoms  with  their  kings. 
If  for  a  space  amidst  the  swirl 
The  lyre  of  trumpet  some  sustain, 
They  're  swept  at  last  in  ceaseless  whirl. 
And  none  escape  Fate's  common  main. 

— From  John  Pollen's  Rhymes  from  the  Russian. 

Yiiri  Aleks^ndrovich  Neledinski-Mel6tski. 
(1752-1829.) 

After  finishing  his  education  in  the  University  of  Strassburg, 
Neledinski  occupied  various  posts  in  the  army  and  with  legations. 
In  1800  he  was  made  a  Senator.  He  distinguished  himself  in  litera- 
ture by  his  simple,  deep-felt  soogs,  two  of  which,  given  below,  have 
become  enormously  popular.  His  other  poems  and  translations  from 
French  authors  are  now  forgotten. 

Sir  John  Bowring  has  translated  his  "  Under  the  oak-tree,  near  the 
rill,"  "To  the  streamlet  I'll  repair,"  and  " He  whom  misery,  dark 
and  dreary  " ;  the  latter  is  the  same  as  Lewis's  "  He  whose  soul  from 
sorrow  dreary." 

SONG 

To  the  streamlet  I  '11  repair, 

I/X)k  upon  its  flight  and  say : 
"  Bear,  O  fleeting  streamlet,  bear 

All  my  griefs  with  thine  away !  " 

'  The  last  verses  Derzhdvin  wrote. 


Ytiri  Neledinski-Mel^tski  393 

Ah,  I  breathe  the  wish  in  vain ! 

In  this  silent  solitude  ^ 

Counted  is  each  throb  of  pain: — 

Rest  is  melancholy's  food. 

Waves  with  waves  unceasing  blend, 

Hurrying  to  their  destiny: 
E'en  so  thoughts  with  thoughts,  and  tend 

All  alike  to  misery. 

And  what  grief  so  dark,  so  deep 

As  the  grief  interred  within. 
By  the  friend,  for  whom  I  weep, 

All  unnoticed,  all  unseen  ? 

Yet,  could  I  subdue  my  pain, 

Soothe  affection's  rankling  smart, 
Ne'er  would  I  resume  again 

The  lost  empire  of  my  heart. 

Thou,  my  love,  art  sovereign  there! 

There  thou  hast  a  living  shrine: 
I^t  my  portion  be  despair, 

If  the  light  of  bliss  be  thine. 

Loved  by  thee,  oh,  might  I  live, 

'Neath  the  darkest,  stormiest  sky: 
'T  were  a  blest  alternative! 

Grief  is  joy,  if  thou  be  nigh. 

Every  wish  and  every  pray'r 

Is  a  tribute  paid  to  thee: 
Every  heart-beat — there,  oh  there, 

Thou  hast  mightiest  sovereignty. 

To  thee,  nameless  one !  to  thee 
Still  my  thoughts,  my  passions  turn; 

*T  is  through  thee  alone  I  see. 
Think,  and  feel,  and  breathe,  and  burn. 


394  The  Eighteenth  Century 

If  the  woe  in  which  I  live 

Ever  reach  thy  generous  ear. 
Pity  not,  but  oh,  forgive 

Thy  devoted  worshipper! 

In  some  hour  of  careless  bliss 

Deign  my  bosom's  fire  to  prove; 
Prove  it  with  an  icy  kiss, — 
Thou  shalt  know  how  much  I  love ! 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of 
the  Russian  Poets,  Part  I. 

STANZAS 

He  whose  soul  from  sorrow  dreary, 

Weak  and  wretched,  naught  can  save, 
Who  in  sadness,  sick  and  weary, 

Hopes  no  refuge  but  the  grave; 
On  his  visage  Pleasure  beaming 

Ne'er  shall  shed  her  placid  ray, 
Till  kind  fate,  from  woe  redeeming, 

Leads  him  to  his  latest  day. 

Thou  this  life  preservest  ever. 

My  distress  and  my  delight! 
And,  though  soul  and  body  sever, 

Still  I  '11  live  a  spirit  bright; 
In  my  breast  the  heart  that 's  kindled 

Death's  dread  strength  can  ne'er  destroy, 
Sure  the  soul  with  thine  that  's  mingled 

Must  immortal  life  enjoy. 

That  inspired  by  breath  from  heaven 

Need  not  shrink  a  mortal  doom. 
To  thee  shall  my  vows  be  given 

In  this  world  and  that  to  come. 
My  fond  shade  shall  constant  trace  thee, 

And  attend  in  friendly  guise, 
Still  surround  thee,  still  embrace  thee. 

Catch  thy  thoughts,  thy  looks,  thy  sighs. 


Mikhail  Nikitich  Muravev  395 

To  divine  its  secret  pondering, 

Close  to  clasp  thy  soul  't  will  brave, 
And  if  chance  shall  find  thee  wandering 

Heedless  near  my  silent  grave. 
E'en  my  ashes  then  shall  tremble, 

Thy  approach  relume  their  fire, 
And  that  stone  in  dust  shall  crumble. 

Covering  what  can  ne'er  expire! 
— From  W.  D.  Lewis's  The  Bakchesarian  Fountain. 

Mikhail  Nikitich  Murav6v.    (1757-1807.) 

Muravev  was  an  alumnus  of  the  Moscow  University,  and  early  dis- 
tinguished himself  for  his  intimate  knowledge  of  the  ancient  and 
many  modern  languages.  In  1785  he  became  the  instructor  of  Alex- 
ander and  Constantine,  and  when  the  first  ascended  the  throne, 
Muravev  was  made  Senator,  and  later  Curator  of  the  Moscow  Univer- 
sity. He  not  only  did  much  for  the  cause  of  education  in  Russia, 
but  himself  educated  a  new  generation  of  writers,  among  them 
Bdtyushkov  ;  through  his  eflForts  Karamzin  was  made  historiographer, 
and  the  Archives  were  opened  to  him.  In  his  prose  and  poetry, 
Muravev  was  himself  a  follower  of  the  pseudo-classic  school,  with  an 
addition  of  sentimentalism,  through  Karamzin's  influence.  In  his 
classicism,  however,  he  differs  from  all  his  contemporaries  in  that 
he  drew  directly  from  the  ancient  sources,  with  which  he  was  in- 
timately acquainted. 

Sir  John  Bowring  translated  Murav^v's  To  the  Goddess  of  the 
Neva,  Boleslav,  and  "  She  bent  her  head,  and  her  tears  that  fell." 

TO  THE  GODDESS  OF  THE  NEVA 

Glide,  majestic  Neva!     Glide  thee, 

Decked  with  bright  and  peaceful  smiles; 

Palaces  are  raised  beside  thee, 
'Midst  the  shadows  of  the  isles. 

Stormy  Russian  seas  thou  bindest 

With  the  ocean — by  the  grave 
Of  our  glorious  Tsar  thou  windest, 

Which  thy  graceful  waters  lave. 


39^  The  Eighteenth  Century 

And  the  middle-ocean's  surges 
All  thy  smiling  naiads  court; 

While  thy  stream  to  Paros  urges, 
And  to  Lemnos'  classic  port. 

Hellas'  streams,  their  glory  shaded, 
See  the  brightest  memories  fade ; 

Glassy  mirrors — how  degraded ! 
Dimmed  by  Kislar  Aga's  shade. 

While  thy  happier  face  is  bearing 

Ever-smiling  images. 
On  thy  busy  banks  appearing 

Crowds  in  gaiety  and  peace. 

Thames'  and  Tagus'  gathering  prizes, 
Spread  their  riches  o'er  thy  breast, 

While  thy  well-known  banner  rises, 
Rises  proudly  o'er  the  rest. 

In  thy  baths  what  beauties  bathe  them. 
Goddesses  of  love  and  light; 

There  Erota  loves  to  swathe  them 
In  the  brightest  robes  of  night. 

Cool  thy  smiling  banks  at  even. 
Cool  thy  grottoes  and  thy  cells. 

Where,  by  gentle  breezes  driven. 
Oft  the  dancing  billow  swells. 

Then  thou  gatherest  vapours  round  thee. 
Veil' St  thee  in  thy  twilight  dress; 

Love  and  mirth  have  now  unbound  thee — 
Yield  thee  to  thy  waywardness. 

Thou  dost  bear  the  dying  over. 
Weary  of  this  earthly  dream ; 

And  with  awful  mists  dost  cover 
All  the  bosom  of  the  stream. 


Vasili  Vasilevich  Kapnist  397 

With  thy  car  thou  troublest  never 

The  calm  silence  of  the  deep ; 
Sirens  dance  around  thee  ever, 

I/aughing  o'er  thy  quiet  sleep. 

Peaceful  goddess !     Oft  the  singer 

Sees  thee  in  his  ecstasy, 
On  the  rock  he  loves  to  linger, 
Sleepless, — then  he  meets  with  thee. 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the 
Russian  Poets,  Part  II. 

Vasili  Vasilevich  Kapnist.    (1757-1824.) 

Kapnist,  the  son  of  a  brigadier,  entered  the  army  as  a  corporal  in 
1771,  and  was  made  a  commissioned  ofiScer  in  1775,  but  he  soon  re- 
tired to  his  native  village  of  Obfikhovka  in  the  Government  of  Kiev, 
■which  he  later  described  in  the  manner  of  Horace.  He  was  elected 
a  Representative  of  the  Nobility  of  his  district,  later  (upon  his  return 
to  St.  Petersburg),  became  a  member  of  the  Academy,  and  rose  to 
many  other  honours.  He  early  distinguished  himself  by  translations 
and  imitations  of  Horace,  in  which  he  devoted  a  closer  attention  to 
perfect  form  than  any  of  his  contemporaries,  so  that,  but  for  a  some- 
what antiquated  language,  he  is  read  with  pleasure  even  at  the 
present  time.  His  chief  reputation  with  his  contemporaries  was 
earned  by  the  comedy  The  Pettifoggery,  which  had  a  phenomenal 
success,  and  was  only  superseded  by  Griboy^dov's  Intelligence  Comes 
to  Grief  Q-n^  Gdgol's  The  Revizbr.  Like  all  the  great  comedies  of 
Russia,  The  Pettifoggery  deals  with  the  negative  sides  of  social  life, 
and  lays  bare  the  corruption  of  officialdom .  The  plot  of  the  play  is 
as  follows  :  Pettifog  devises  a  plan  by  which  he  is  to  get  hold  of  the 
property  of  Squareman.  The  latter  is  named  in  his  certificate  of 
birth  Theodotos  ;  his  father  left  his  estate  to  this  Theodotos,  but  he 
naming  himself  Deodatus  (Bogddn),  Pettifog  argues  before  the  judges 
that  Deodatus  is  another  unlawful  holder  of  that  estate,  and  that  it 
ought  to  revert  to  himself,  as  a  distant  relative  of  the  deceased  man. 
To  make  his  case  sure  he  bribes  the  judges.  Gurgle,  Snare,  Gladly 
and  Wordy,  and  the  Procurator  Grab  and  Secretary  Talon,  and  sues 
for  the  hand  of  Sophia,  the  daughter  of  the  Presiding  Judge  Case- 
twister.  All,  however,  ends  well,  for  Pettifog  is  denounced  to  the 
Senate  and  put  in  gaol,  and  the  judges  are  turned  over  to  the 
criminal  court,  while  Squareman  marries  Sophia,  his  old  sweetheart. 
The  verses  at  the  end  of  Act  IH.,  Scene  6,  "Take,  you'll  learn  the 


39^  The  Eighteenth  Century  * 

art  witli  ease,"  went  like  wild-fire  through  all  Russia,  and  became  the 
byword  for  the  large  host  of  bribers. 

Sir  John  Bowring  has  trauslated  his  On  Julia''  s  Death,  also  reprinted 
in  F.  R.  Grahame's  The  Progress  of  Science,  Art  and  Literature  in 
Russia. 

FROM   "THE  PETTIFOGGERY" 

ACT  III.,  SCENE  6.      F^KLA,  SOPHIA,   ANNA,  CASETWISTER, 
PETTIFOG,    GURGI^E,    SNARE,    GLADLY,   WORDY,   GRAB, 

TALON  AND  SLY  (tipsy,  playing  cards) 

Talon.  They  have  picked  me  clean. 

Gurgle.  Well!     We  are  not  picking  your  own  feathers. 

Pettifog.  My  dear  friend,  always  grab  the  jack-pot! 

Talon.  A  well-born  man  grabs  all  in  splendid  style. 

Wordy  {to  Pettifog).  Your  intimate  has  been  flaying  us. 

Pettifog.  That 's  proper.  {To  Sly.)  You  had  better  rise. 
{To  Casetwister.)  Will  you  not  let  him  mix  a  punch  for  us  ? 
He  is  a  great  hand  at  it. 

CasetTvister.  Very  well. 

Gurgle.  That  's  right,  for  the  young  beauty  has  been 
watering  us  as  from  a  trough.     .     .     . 

Sly  {walking  up  to  Anna).  There  is  some  brandy  in  the 
basket. 

Fikla.  His  goose  is  cooked. 

Pettifog.  That's  so. 

Casetwister.  Whose? 

Pettifog.  Mine. 

Gurgle.  That  accursed  Theodotos  has  done  it  all. 

Gladly  {to  Grab,  who  has  been  looking  into  his  cards).  Leave 
my  ca-ca-ca 

Grab  {putting  his  hand  on  his  mouth).  Stop  your  cawing. 

Wordy.  Say,  Sly,  stop  courting  her. 

Casetwister.  Anna,  why  have  you  run  away  from  us  ? 
You  had  better  serve  us  the  new  punch;  we  will  be  obliged 
to  you. 

Fikla  {to  Anna).  Hurry  up. 

{Anna  serves  to  the  guests  punch  and  wine,  while  Fikla  gives 
her  privately  some  signs  :  the  guests  are  getting  drunk.) 


Vasili  Vasilevich  Kapnist  399 

Snare.  Oh,  oh,  we  are  getting  there! 

Pettifog.  Eh? 

Wordy  {pointing  to  Sly).  Ask  him. 

Sly.  Sir,  the  trouble  is,  it 's  all  gone. 

Pettifog.  Keep  it  up;  here  is  the  wherewithal  (throws  a 
purse  to  hint). 

Gurgle.  The  trouble  is  all  with  Theodotos. 

Pettifog.  It  is  easy  for  you  to  have  your  fun  with  Theo- 
dotos; but  it  's  I  who  am  having  the  trouble  with 
him. 

Casetwister.  What  of  it  ?  If  it  is  true  that  through  con- 
spiracy Deodatus  has  gotten  away  with  Theodotos's  property, 
there  is  a  law  for  such  a  case. 

Talon.  I  have  already  given  the  order  to  find  the  laws  that 
cover  the  case. 

Casetwister.  I  suppose  there  are  some  statutes  ? 

Talon.  Lots  of  them,  sir. 

Wordy.  And  also  some  decrees  ? 

Talon.  There  are. 

Gurgle.  And,  of  course,  there  must  be  a  special  ukase. 

Talon.  There  are  several. 

Grab.  But  clearest  of  all  it  is  in  the  Institutes;  you  will 
find  it  in  the  chapter  where    .     .     .    about  it 

Snare.  Rather  dark. 

Wordy.  It 's  an  ace  and  a  jack. 

Casetzvister.  And  then  we  may  apply  the  law  of  false  pre- 
tences ? 

Talon.  Of  course,  we  may,  sir!    It  fits  the  case. 

Gurgle.  And  we  bring  the  Reglement  in  accord  with  the 
Institutes.     .     .     . 

Talon.  Then  all  will  agree  with  the  above-mentioned 
ukase. 

Gurgle.  That  *s  it.    You  see,  you  can  easily  pass  sentence. 

Casetwister.  Theodotos  is  out  of  the  question.  Deodatus 
is  certainly  a  villain;  so  we  will  take  Theodotos's  property 
and  give  it  where  it  belongs.    That  *s  my  opinion. 

Gurgle.  Mine  too. 

Snare.  And  mine. 


400  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Wordy.  And  mine. 

Gladly.  A-a-and  mine. 

Grab.  I  agree  with  that  unanimous  opinion. 

Pettifog.  Thank  you  all. 

Casetwister.  'T  is  not  hard  to  pick  the  laws. 

Anna  (aside,  as  she  picks  up  the  cards  on  the  ground^.  And 
I  will  pick  the  cards. 

Casetwister.  Where  is  the  punch  ? 

Fikla.  Anna !  Be  quick  about  it,  and  serve  them  often  all 
around,  and  ask  their  favour. 

Gurgle.  Oh,  we  will  soon  ask  hers. 

Casetwister.  Let 's  have  a  song. 

Wordy.  Let 's  throw  away  the  cards:  the  queen  has  for- 
saken me. 

Snare.  You  deal  with  a  heavy  hand. 

Casetwister  (Jo  Grab).  Dear  Procurator !  You  have  a  good 
voice :  give  us  a  song ! 

Grab.  Most  gladly,  but  I  have  no  voice. 

Casetwister.  The  best  way  you  can. 

Gurgle.  We  will  sing  the  refrain. 

Grab  (sings'). 

Take,  you  '11  learn  the  art  with  ease! 
Take  whatever  you  can  seize ! 
God  for  this  your  hands  did  make, 
That  you  may  take ! 

{All repeat:  Take,  take,  take!) 

(Sophia  shuts  her  ears  and  goes  away.) 

ACT  IV.,   SCENE  6.      CASETWISTER,   FEKLA  AND  TALON 

Casetwister  (to  Talon).  But  hear,  my  dear.  The  rumour 
must  be  false  that  some  meddler  has  denounced  us  to  the 
Senate  for  taking  bribes  and  for  deciding  wrongly  cases  at 
law. 

Talon.  I  declare !     What  bad  luck  is  that  ? 

Casetwister.  I  could  not  find  out  all.  But  you,  my  friend, 
tell  me  in  truth  what  case  it  was  we  decided  so  wrongly  that 
we  did  not  cover  our  tracks  ?    I  can't  think  of  any. 


Vasili  Vasilevich  Kapnist  401 

Talon  (scratching  his  spine).  Even  if  I  were  to  go  to  con- 
fession, I  could  not  think  of  any. 

Filda.  But  that 's  impossible. 

Casehvister.  I  beg  you,  wife,  leave  us  alone!  We  know 
affairs  better  than  you. 

Fikla.  Indeed,  I  know  as  well  as  you.  Is  it  not  my  busi- 
ness to  receive  things  and  look  after  them  ?  But  may  the 
wrath  of  the  Lord  strike  me  on  the  spot,  if  my  right  hand 
knows  what  my  left  hand  takes. 

Casetwister  {to  Talon).  Say :  it  just  occurs  to  me  that  there 
was  quite  a  disturbance  about  the  note  whose  endorsement  I 
ordered  to  have  scratched. 

Talon.  O  sir,  there  is  no  cause  for  your  worry  there.  I 
myself  did  the  scratching.  The  defendant  suspected  the 
plaintiff  of  changing  the  endorsement.  You  decided  the  case 
properly  according  to  the  laws,  and  ordered  the  note  to  be 
destroyed. 

Fikla  {to  Casetwister).  Well,  you  have  done  no  more  wrong 
there  than  I. 

Talon.  Besides,  you  did  not  scratch  the  note,  but  only 
clean  paper. 

Fikla.  Then  where  is  your  guilt  ?  What  sin  is  there  in 
scratching  mere  paper  ?    None  at  all. 

Casetwister.  So  much  the  better. 

Talon.  There  is  something  else  that  occurs  to  me.  Do 
you  remember  the  lawsuit  for  Simple's  estate?  Pettifog, 
who  had  really  nothing  to  do  with  the  case  and  had  forgot- 
ten the  name  of  Simple  in  the  lawsuit,  contrived  cunningly 
to  sue  Trickster,  who  had  also  not  the  slightest  right  to  the 
estate.  We  did  not  bother  about  finding  out  whose  the  vil- 
lage in  question  was,  and  without  further  investigation,  in 
the  absence  of  Simple,  disposed  of  the  lawsuit  by  adjudging 
another's  property  to  the  contending  parties,  which  they 
proceeded  at  once  to  divide  among  themselves.  I  can't  im- 
agine what  Simple  is  going  to  say  about  it. 

CasetTvister.  Let  him  say  whatever  he  pleases,  since  he  has 
paid  so  little  attention  to  it.  Why  should  we  worry  about 
him  now?    We  are  the  judges.     'T  is  our  duty  to  know 

VOL.   I.  — 26. 


402  The  Eighteenth  Century 

onlj'  that  which  is  presented  for  our  consideration  on  paper. 
What  right  have  we  to  know  that  the  estate  under  conten- 
tion does  not  belong  to  the  contending  parties,  but  to  some- 
•  one  else  ?  We  should  have  to  have  some  written  proof  of 
that;  in  absence  of  the  same,  we  simply  must  decide  a 
lawsuit  between  two  parties  strictly  according  to  the  laws. 
We  cannot  help  it  if  both  were  contending  for  something 
that  did  not  belong  to  them. 

OBUKHOVKA 

At  peace  with  my  neighbours  and  relatives,  at  peace  with 
my  conscience,  in  love  with  my  beloved  family,  I  here  with 
my  joys  alone  measure  the  stream  of  quiet  days. 

My  cosey  house  with  straw-thatched  roof  is  all  I  want, 
neither  too  low,  nor  too  high ;  there  is  a  nook  in  it  for  friend- 
ship, and  indolence  has  forgot  to  put  a  lock  on  the  door,  to 
notabilities  unknown. 

By  a  mount  from  the  north  protected,  it  stands  upon  a 
glassy  hill,  and  looks  into  groves  and  distant  meadows, 
while  Psel,  winding  like  a  serpent,  babbles  as  it  tends  to- 
wards the  mills. 

Nearby,  the  favourite  child  of  nature,  a  vast  shadowy 
forest,  surrounds  it  on  all  sides  with  its  thick  tree-tops,  with- 
out encroachment  on  the  free  expanse. 

Before  it,  and  on  a  small  eminence,  art,  to  please  our  eyes, 
having  given  a  gentle  slope  to  abrupt  mounds,  has  on  a 
modest  elevation  raised  a  modest  temple  to  moderation. 

Moderation,  O  heavenly  friend,  be  ever  my  companion ! 
You  lead  men  to  happiness;  but  your  altar,  not  known  to 
all,  is  hidden  from  the  boastful  rich. 

You  have  taught  me  from  earliest  youth  not  to  seek 
honour  nor  gold,  without  pinions  not  to  fly  upwards,  and  in 
the  glowworm  not  to  show  the  light  to  the  wonderment  of 
the  world. 

With  you,  the  dearest  one  to  me  in  the  world,  I  treasure 
my  fate;  whithersoever  I  glance  with  you,  in  every  object 
I  discover  a  new  charm. 


Vasili  Vasilevich  Kapnist  403 

As  I  walk  down  the  hill,  the  arbour  covered  by  the  dense 
shade  of  trees  calls  the  tired  one,  through  the  forest  that 
bends  into  a  vault,  to  rest,  and  mirrors  itself  in  the  crystal 
stream  below. 

Coolness  reigns  here  for  ever  and  refreshes  the  feelings  and 
the  mind,  while  the  gentle,  incessant  murmur  of  the  im- 
petuous waterfall  induces  sleep  amidst  sweet  thoughts. 

There  suddenly  twenty  wheels  begin  to  turn,  and  circle 
hastens  after  circle;  diamonds,  opals,  hyacinths,  rain  down 
from  gleaming  bows,  while  pearls  beat  underneath  in  clouds. 

Thus  the  vision  of  happiness  moves  the  passions,  and  with 
them  the  whole  world  is  in  motion.  Fortunate  he  who  gets 
away  from  them,  for  they  crush  all,  tear  all  in  pieces  that 
passes  under  their  millstone. 

Let  us  go,  before  it  grows  dark,  to  rest  upon  the  nearby 
island;  a  covered  way  leads  to  it,  where  the  raj'^s  of  the  sun 
dare  not  glide  through  the  dark  foliage. 

There  I  shall  sit  down  under  amossy  elm,  leaning  against 
a  mighty  trunk.  Alas,  not  long,  upon  a  hot  day,  will  its 
leafy  top  carpet  for  me  a  hospitable  shade ! 

Already  it  has  inclined  its  brow  upon  the  water  that  has 
undermined  the  steep  bank;  already  it  looks  into  the  gloomy 
depth, — and  soon,  in  stormy  weather,  it  will  fall  with  up- 
turned roots  into  the  water. 

Thus  in  the  world  all  is  carried  away  by  the  stream  of  time 
amidst  an  eternal  strife;  thus  ancient  altars  have  fallen ;  thus 
kingdoms  and  kings  have  fallen,  with  the  pillars  of  their 
thrones. 

But  to  disperse  painful  thoughts,  let  us  walk  the  path  to 
the  forest-covered  hill  where  Phoebus  with  brilliant  beam 
reflects  from  the  zenith  a  mighty  shade. 

I  see  a  modest  plain  with  a  hedge  of  crimson  bushes:  there 
Flora,  the  tender  mother  of  the  gardens,  has  scattered  her 
basket  full  of  fragrant  flowers. 

Farther  off,  in  the  realm  of  Pomona,  fruit  burdens  the 
trees;  beyond  is  the  vineyard  of  Bacchus,  where,  filled  with 
nectar  juice,  gleam  amber  clusters. 

Is  it  possible  to  picture  all  the  beauties  of  nature,  and  all 


404  The  Eighteenth  Century 

its  charm  ?  To  weld  there  the  distance  with  the  horizon,  to 
adorn  here  the  vales  with  flocks,  and  nap  it  with  the  golden 
harvest  ? 

No,  no !  Abandon  the  vain  endeavour !  Already  the  sun 
has  disappeared  behind  the  mountain;  already  above  the 
ethereal  azure,  'twixt  clouds,  twinkle  bright  stars  and  glisten 
on  the  waves  of  the  river. 

I  ascend  the  hill.  The  golden  moon  has  swum  out  on  a 
gentle  cloud,  and,  glinting  through  the  bluish  cirrus,  leaves 
behind  it  a  gleaming  path  above  the  liquid  glass. 

Oh,  how  dear  that  place  is  to  me  when  the  satellite  of  the 
night  comes,  in  all  her  beauty,  to  weld  with  the  dream  of  a 
pining  soul  the  remembrance  of  bright  days! 

ON  JULIA'S  DEATH 

The  evening  darkness  shrouds 

The  slumbering  world  in  peace, 
And  from  her  throne  of  clouds 

Shines  Luna  through  the  trees. 
My  thoughts  in  silence  blend. 

But  gathered  all  to  thee: 
Thou  moon !  the  mourner's  friend. 

Oh,  come  and  mourn  with  me! 

Upon  her  grave  I  bow. 

The  green  grave  where  she  lies: 
Oh,  hear  my  sorrows  now, 

And  consecrate  my  sighs ! 
This  is  her  ashes'  bed, — 

Here  her  cold  relics  sleep, — 
Where  I  my  tears  shall  shed. 

While  this  torn  heart  can  weep. 

O  Julia!    Never  rose 

Had  half  the  charms  of  thee  I 
My  comfort,  my  repose, — 

Oh,  thou  wert  all  to  me  I 


Adrian  Moys^evich  Grib6vski        405 

But  thou  art  gone,  and  I 

Must  bear  life's  load  of  clay, —  ^ 

And  pray,  and  long  to  die. 

Though  dying  day  by  day. 

But  I  must  cease  to  sing, 

My  lyre  all  mute  appears. 
Alas !  Its  plaintive  string 

Is  wetted  with  my  tears. 
Oh!  Misery's  song  must  end, — 

My  thoughts  all  fly  to  thee : — 
Thou  moon !    The  mourner's  friend, 

Oh,  come  and  mourn  with  me ! 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of 
the  Russian  Poets,  Part  II. 

Adri&n  Moys^evich  Grib6vski.    (1766-1833.) 

Grib6vski  was  a  Little-Russian  by  birth.  In  1784  he  was  secretary 
to  Derzhdvin,  the  poet,  who  was  then  Governor  of  016netsk.  Then 
he  served  under  Pot^mkin,  and  after  his  death  in  1791  he  entered  the 
service  of  Count  Ztibov,  Catherine's  favourite.  In  1795  he  was 
Catherine's  Secretary  of  State.  Like  so  many  Russian  Memoirs  of 
the  eighteenth  century,  Grib6vski's  Memoirs  not  only  throw  light  on 
contemporary  events,  but  are  of  great  importance  for  a  correct  ap- 
preciation of  the  literature  of  the  time.  What  Grib6vski  reports  of 
the  simplicity  of  Catherine's  private  life  forms  the  subject  of  Der- 
zhdvin's  Felitsa  (see  p.  385  et  seq.). 

FROM   HIS   "MEMOIRS" 

The  Empress's  [Catherine  II.]  manner  of  life  was  of  late 
years  the  same :  In  the  winter  she  resided  in  the  large  Win- 
ter Palace,  in  the  middle  story,  above  the  right,  smaller 
entrance.  Her  own  rooms  were  few.  Upon  ascending  a 
small  staircase,  one  entered  into  a  room  where,  for  the  im- 
mediate dispatch  of  the  Empress's  orders,  there  stood  behind 
a  screen  a  writing  table  with  writing  material  for  the  secre- 
taries of  state  and  other  officers.  This  room  faced  a  small 
court,  and  from  it  you  passed  into  the  boudoir,  with  its 
windows  on  the  Palace  Square.     Here  stood  a  toilet  table. 


4o6  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Of  the  two  doors  in  this  room,  the  one  to  the  right  led  into 
the  diamond  room,  the  other,  to  the  left,  into  the  sleeping- 
room,  where  the  Empress  generally  received  her  reports. 
From  the  sleeping-room  one  passed  straight  into  the  interior 
boudoir,  and  to  the  left — into  the  study  and  mirror  room, 
from  which  one  way  led  into  the  lower  apartments,  and  the 
other,  over  a  gallery,  into  the  so-called  Neighbouring  House. 
In  these  apartments  the  Empress  lived  until  spring,  but 
sometimes  she  removed  earlier  to  the  Tauric  Palace,  which 
had  been  built  by  Prince  Pot^mkin  on  the  bank  of  the  Nevd. 

The  main  building  of  this  latter  palace  was  only  one  story 
high,  on  purpose,  it  seems,  that  the  Empress  should  not  be 
annoyed  by  staircases.  Here  her  rooms  were  larger  than  in 
the  Winter  Palace,  especially  the  study  in  which  she  received 
the  reports.  In  the  first  days  of  May  she  always  went  in- 
cognito to  Tsdrskoe  Sel6,  and  from  there  she  returned,  also 
incognito,  in  September  to  the  Winter  Palace.  Her  apart- 
ments in  Tsdrskoe  Sel6  were  quite  large  and  tastefully  fur- 
nished. All  know  the  magnificent  gallery  in  which  the 
Empress  frequently  took  a  walk,  particularly  on  Sundays 
when  the  park  was  filled  with  a  large  crowd  of  people  that 
used  to  come  down  from  St.  Petersburg.  She  received  the 
reports  in  the  cabinet,  or  in  the  sleeping-room. 

The  Empress's  time  and  occupations  were  arranged  in  the 
following  manner:  She  rose  at  seven,  and  was  busy  writing 
in  her  cabinet  until  nine  (her  last  work  was  on  the  Senate 
Regulations).  She  once  remarked  in  her  conversation  that 
she  could  not  live  a  day  without  writing  something.  During 
that  time  she  drank  one  cup  of  coflFee,  without  cream.  At 
nine  o'clock  she  passed  into  the  sleeping-room,  where  almost 
in  the  entrance  from  the  boudoir  she  seated  herself  in  a  chair 
near  the  wall.  Before  her  stood  a  table  that  slanted  towards 
her  and  also  to  the  opposite  direction,  where  there  was  also  a 
chair.  She  then  generally  wore  a  sleeping-gown,  or  capote, 
of  white  gros  de  Tours,  and  on  her  head  a  white  cr6pe  bon- 
net which  was  poised  a  little  towards  the  left.  In  spite  of 
her  sixty-five  j'ears,  the  Empress's  face  was  still  fresh,  her 
hands  beautiful,  her  teeth  all  well  preserved,  so  that  she 


Adrian  Moyseevich  Grib6vski         407 

spoke  distinctly,  without  lisping,  only  a  little  masculinely. 
She  read  with  eyeglasses  and  a  magnifying  glass.  Having 
once  been  called  in  with  my  reports,  I  found  her  reading  in 
this  way.  She  smiled  and  said  to  me:  "  You,  no  doubt,  do 
not  need  this  apparatus !  How  old  are  you  ?  ' '  And  when 
I  said:  "Twenty-six,"  she  added:  "  But  we  have,  in  our 
long  service  to  the  Empire,  dulled  our  vision,  and  now  we 
are  of  necessity  compelled  to  use  glasses."  It  appeared  to 
me  that  "  we"  was  used  by  her  not  as  an  expression  of 
majesty,  but  in  the  ordinary  sense. 

Upon  another  occasion  she  handed  me  an  autograph  note 
which  contained  some  references  for  her  Senate  Regulations 
for  verification,  and  said:  "  Laugh  not  at  my  Russian  ortho- 
graphy. I  will  tell  you  why  I  have  not  succeeded  in  master- 
ing it.  When  I  came  here,  I  applied  myself  diligently  to 
the  study  of  Russian.  When  my  aunt,  Elizabeth  Petrovna, 
heard  of  this,  she  told  my  Court  mistress  that  I  ought  not  to 
be  taught  any  more, — that  I  was  clever  enough  anyway. 
Thus,  I  could  learn  Russian  only  from  books,  without  a 
teacher,  and  that  is  the  cause  of  my  insuflScient  knowledge 
of  orthography."  However,  the  Empress  spoke  quite  cor- 
rect Russian,  and  was  fond  of  using  simple  native  words,  of 
which  she  knew  a  great  number.  "  I  am  very  happy,"  she 
said  to  me,  '*  that  you  know  the  order  of  the  Chancery.  You 
will  be  the  first  executor  of  my  Regulations  before  the  Sen- 
ate. But  I  caution  you  that  the  Chancery  of  the  Senate  has 
overpowered  the  Senate,  and  that  I  wish  to  free  it  from  the 
Chancery.  For  any  unjust  decisions,  my  punishment  for  the 
Senate  shall  be :  let  them  be  ashamed !  "  I  remarked  that 
not  only  the  Senate,  but  also  other  bureaus  that  are  guided 
by  the  General  Reglement,  are  hampered  in  the  transaction 
of  their  business  by  great  inconveniences  and  diflficulties  that 
demand  correction.  "  I  should  like  very  much  to  see  those 
inconveniences  and  diflficulties  of  which  you  speak  to  me  in 
such  strong  terms.  The  General  Reglement  is  one  of  the 
best  institutions  of  Peter  the  Great."  Later  on,  I  presented 
to  her  Highness  my  notes  upon  the  General  Reglement, 
which  I  read  to  her  almost  every  afternoon  of  her  residence 


4o8  The  Eighteenth  Century 

in  Tsdrskoe  Sel6  in  1796,  and  which  were  honoured  by  her 
undivided  august  approval.  (These  notes  must  be  deposited 
with  other  affairs  in  the  Archives  of  the  Foreign  College.) 

After  occupying  her  seat,  of  which  I  spoke  above,  the 
Empress  rang  a  bell,  and  the  valet  of  the  day,  who  uninter- 
ruptedly remained  outside  the  door,  entered  and,  having  re- 
ceived his  order,  called  in  the  persons.  At  that  time  of  the 
day,  the  Chief  Master  of  Police  and  the  Secretary  of  State 
waited  daily  in  the  boudoir;  at  eleven  o'clock  there  arrived 
Count  Bezbor6dko;  for  the  other  ofl&cers  certain  days  in  the 
week  were  set  apart:  for  the  Vice-Chancellor,  Governor, 
Government  Procurator  of  the  Government  of  St.  Peters- 
burg, Saturday;  for  the  Procurator-General,  Monday  and 
Thursday;  Wednesday  for  the  Superior  Procurator  of  the 
Synod  and  Master  General  of  Requests;  Thursday  for  the 
Commander-in-Chief  of  St.  Petersburg.  But  in  important 
and  urgent  cases,  all  these  ofl&cers  could  come  any  other 
time  to  report. 

The  first  one  to  be  called  in  to  the  Empress  was  the  Chief 
Master  of  Police,  Brigadier  Gldzov.  He  made  a  verbal  re- 
port on  the  safety  of  the  capital  and  other  occurrences,  and 
presented  a  note,  written  at  the  ofl&ce  irregularly  and  badly 
on  a  sheet  of  paper,  containing  the  names  of  arrivals  and 
departures  on  the  previous  day  of  people  of  all  conditions 
who  had  taken  the  trouble  to  announce  their  names  at  the 
toll-house,  for  the  sentinels  stopped  no  one  at  the  toll-house, 
nor  inquired  anything  of  them, — in  fact  there  existed  then 
no  toll-gates;  anybody  received  a  passport  from  the  Governor 
at  any  time  he  asked  for  it,  and  without  any  pay,  and  could 
leave  the  city  whenever  he  wished :  for  this  reason  the  list 
of  arrivals  and  departures  never  could  be  very  long.  After 
the  Chief  Master  of  Police  left,  the  Secretaries  of  State  who 
had  any  business  had  themselves  announced  by  the  valet, 
and  were  let  in  one  by  one.  I  was  one  of  them.  Upon 
entering  the  sleeping-room,  I  observed  the  following  cere- 
mony: I  made  a  low  obeisance  to  the  Empress,  to  which  she 
responded  with  a  nod  of  her  head,  and  smilingly  gave  me 
her  hand,  which  I  took  and  kissed,  and  I  felt  the  pressure 


Adricin  Moys^evich  Grib6vski        409 

of  my  own  hand ;  then  she  commanded  me  to  take  a  seat. 
Having  seated  myself  on  the  chair  opposite,  I  placed  my 
papers  on  the  slanting  table,  and  began  to  read.  I  suppose 
the  other  reporting  oflBcers  acted  in  the  same  way,  when  they 
entered  the  room  of  the  Empress,  and  that  they  met  with 
the  same  reception. 

About  eleven  o'clock  the  other  ofl&cers  arrived  with  their 
reports,  as  mentioned  above,  and  sometimes  there  came 
Field-Marshal  Count  Suv6rov  Rymnikski,  who  then,  after 
the  conquest  of  Poland,  resided  at  St.  Petersburg.  When 
he  entered,  he  first  prostrated  himself  three  times  before  the 
image  of  the  Holy  Virgin  of  Kazdn,  which  stood  in  the 
comer,  to  the  right  of  the  door,  and  before  which  there 
burned  an  undying  lamp;  then  he  turned  to  the  Empress, 
prostrated  himself  once  before  her,  though  she  tried  to  keep 
him  from  it,  and,  taking  him  by  the  hand,  lifted  him  and  said : 
"Mercy!  Alexander  Vasilevich,  are  you  not  ashamed  to  act 
like  that  ? ' '  But  the  hero  worshipped  her  and  regarded  it 
as  his  sacred  duty  to  express  his  devotion  to  her  in  that 
manner.  The  Empress  gave  him  her  hand,  which  he  kissed 
as  a  relic,  and  asked  him  to  seat  himself  on  the  chair  oppos- 
ite her;  two  minutes  later  she  dismissed  him.  They  used 
to  tell  that  Count  Bezbor6dko  and  a  few  others  prostrated 
themselves  in  the  same  way  before  her,  but  not  before  the 
Holy  Virgin. 

At  these  audiences  in  the  Winter  and  Tauric  Palaces,  the 
military  officers  wore  uniforms,  with  their  swords  and  shoes, 
but  boots  on  holidays;  civil  officers  wore  during  week-days 
simple  French  coats,  but  on  holidays  gala  dresses;  but  at 
Tsdrskoe  Sel6,  both  the  military  and  civilians  wore  dress- 
coats  on  week-days,  and  only  on  holidays  the  former  put  on 
uniforms,  and  the  latter  French  coats  with  their  swords. 

The  Empress  was  busy  until  noon,  after  which  her  old 
hair-dresser,  Kozlov,  dressed  her  hair  in  her  interior  boudoir. 
She  wore  her  hair  low  and  very  simple ;  it  was  done  up  in 
the  old  fashion,  with  small  locks  behind  her  ears.  Then  she 
went  into  the  boudoir,  where  we  all  waited  for  her;  our  so- 
ciety was  then  increased  by  four  spinsters  who  came  to  serve 


4IO  The  Eighteenth  Century 

the  Empress  at  her  toilet.  One  of  them,  M.  S.  Aleksy^ev, 
passed  some  ice  to  the  Empress,  who  rubbed  her  face  with  it, 
probably  in  order  to  show  that  she  did  not  like  any  other 
washes;  another,  A.  A.  Polokdchi,  pinned  a  cr^pe  ornament 
to  her  hair,  and  the  two  sisters  Zvyer^v  handed  her  the  pins. 
This  toilet  lasted  not  more  than  ten  minutes,  and  during 
that  time  the  Empress  conversed  with  some  one  of  the  per- 
sons present,  among  whom  there  was  often  the  Chief  Equerry, 
Lev  Sergy^evich  Naryshkin,  and  sometimes  Count  Strogo- 
n6v,  who  were  her  favourite  society.  Having  bid  the  com- 
pany good-bye,  the  Empress  returned  with  her  maids  into 
the  sleeping-room,  where  she  dressed  herself  for  dinner, 
with  their  aid  and  with  the  aid  of  Mdrya  Sdvishna,  while  we 
all  went  home.  On  week-days  the  Empress  wore  simple 
silk  dresses,  which  were  all  made  almost  according  to  the 
same  pattern,  and  which  were  known  as  Moldavian;  the 
upper  garment  was  usually  of  lilac  or  greyish  colour,  and 
without  her  decorations, —  her  lower  garment  white;  on 
holidays  she  wore  a  brocade  gown,  with  three  decorations — 
the  crosses  of  St.  Andrew,  St.  George  and  St.  Vladimir, 
and  sometimes  she  put  on  all  the  sashes  that  belong  to  these 
decorations,  and  a  small  crown;  she  wore  not  very  high- 
heeled  shoes. 

Her  dinner  was  set  for  two  o'clock.  During  the  week 
there  were  generally  invited  to  dinner,  of  ladies,  the  Maid 
of  Honour  Protdsov  and  Countess  Branitski;  of  gentlemen, 
Adjutant-General  P.  V.  Pdssek,  A.  A.  Naryshkin,  Count 
Strogon6v,  the  two  French  emigrants,  the  good  Count  Ester- 
hdzy  and  the  black  Marquis  de  Lambert,  at  times  Vice- 
Admiral  Ribas,  Governor-General  of  the  Polish  provinces 
Tutolmin,  and  finally  the  Marshal  of  the  Court,  Prince 
Baryatinski.  On  holidays  there  were  invited  also  other 
military  and  civil  officers  who  lived  in  St.  Petersburg, 
down  to  the  fourth  class,  and,  on  special  celebrations, 
down  to  the  sixth  class.  The  ordinary  dinner  of  the  Em- 
press did  not  last  more  than  an  hour.  She  was  very 
abstemious  in  her  food:  she  never  breakfasted,  and  at  dinner, 
she  tasted  with  moderation  of  not  more  than  three  or  four 


Gavrilo  Petrovich  Kamenev  4^1 

courses;  she  drank  only  a  glass  of  Rhine  or  Hungarian 
wine;  she  never  ate  supper.  For  this  reason  she  was,  in 
spite  of  her  sixty -five  years  and  industrious  habits,  quite 
well  and  lively.  At  times,  indeed,  her  legs  swelled  and 
sores  were  opened  up,  but  that  only  served  to  purify  her 
humours,  consequently  was  advantageous  for  her  health. 
It  is  asserted  that  her  death  took  place  solely  through  the 
closing  up  of  these  sores. 

After  dinner  all  the  guests  immediately  departed.  The 
Empress  was  left  alone:  in  summer  she  sometimes  took  a 
nap,  but  in  winter  never.  She  sometimes  listened,  until  the 
evening  assembly,  to  the  foreign  mail  which  arrived  twice  a 
week;  sometimes  she  read  a  book,  or  made  cameo  imprints 
on  paper;  this  she  did  also  during  the  reading  of  her  mail  by 
P.  A.,  or  Count  Mark6v,  or  Popov;  but  the  latter  was  rarely 
invited  to  read,  on  account  of  his  poor  pronunciation  of 
French,  though  he  was  nearly  always  present  in  the  secre- 
tary's room.  At  six  o'clock  there  assembled  the  aforemen- 
tioned persons,  and  others  of  the  Empress's  acquaintance 
whom  she  specially  designated,  in  order  to  pass  the  evening 
hours.  On  Hermitage  days,  which  were  generally  on  Thurs- 
days, there  was  a  performance,  to  which  many  ladies  and 
gentlemen  were  invited;  after  the  performance  they  all  went 
home.  On  other  days  the  reception  was  in  the  Empress's 
apartments.  She  played  rocambole  or  whist,  generally  with 
P.  A.,  E.  V.  Chertkov  and  Count  Strogonov;  there  were  also 
card-tables  for  the  other  guests.  At  ten  o'clock  the  Empress 
retired  to  her  inner  apartments;  at  eleven  she  was  in  bed, 
and  in  all  the  rooms  reigned  a  deep  silence. 

Gavrilo  Petr6vich  Kdmenev.    (1772-1803.) 

Kdmenev  wrote  very  few  poems,  aud  his  reputation  rests  on  his 
ballad  Gromvdly  which  is  remarkable  for  its  flowing  verse,  the  first 
two  lines  being  in  dactylic  measure,  and  the  last  two  lines  of  each 
stanza  in  anapests.  Its  main  importance,  however,  lies  in  the  fact 
that  it  was  the  first  successful  attempt  at  Romantic  verse  in  the 
Russian  language.  Pushkin  said  of  him:  "Kdmenev  was  the  first 
in  Russia  who  had  the  courage  to  abandon  the  classic  school,  and  we 
Russian  Romantic  poets  must  bring  a  fitting  tribute  to  his  memory." 


412  The  Eighteenth  Century 

gromvAl 

In  my  mind's  eye  I  rapidly  fly,  rapidly  piercing  the  dim- 
ness of  time;  I  lift  the  veil  of  hoary  antiquity,  and  I  see 
Gromvdl  on  his  good  horse. 

The  plumes  wave  upon  his  helmet,  the  tempered  arrows 
clang  in  his  quiver;  he  is  borne  over  the  clear  field  like  a 
whirlwind,  in  burnished  armour  with  his  sharp  spear. 

The  sun  is  setting  behind  the  mountains  of  flint,  the  even- 
ing is  descending  from  the  aerial  heights.  The  hero  arrives 
in  the  murky  forest,  and  only  through  its  tops  he  sees  the 
sky. 

The  storm,  shrouded  in  sullen  night,  hastens  to  the  west 
on  sable  pinions;  the  waters  groan,  the  oak  woods  rustle, 
and  centennial  oaks  creak  and  crack. 

There  is  no  place  to  protect  oneself  against  the  storm  and 
rain ;  there  is  no  cave,  no  house  is  seen ;  only  through  the 
dense  darkness  now  glistens,  now  goes  out,  through  the 
branches  of  the  trees,  a  little  fire  in  the  distance. 

With  hope  in  his  heart,  with  daring  in  his  soul,  slowly 
travelling  through  the  forest  towards  the  fire,  the  hero 
arrives  at  the  bank  of  a  brook,  and  suddenly  he  sees  near- 
by and  in  front  of  him  a  castle. 

A  blue  flame  gleams  within  and  reflects  the  light  in  the 
flowing  stream;  shadows  pass  to  and  fro  in  the  windows, 
and  howls  and  groans  issue  dully  from  them. 

The  knight  swiftly  dismounts  from  his  horse  and  goes  to 
the  grass-covered  gate;  he  strikes  mightily  against  it  with 
his  steel  spear,  but  only  echoes  in  the  forest  respond  to  the 
knocking. 

Immediately  the  fire  within  the  castle  goes  out,  and  the 
light  dies  in  the  embrace  of  darkness;  the  howls  and 
groans  grow  silent,  too;  the  storm  increases,  the  rain  is 
doubled. 

At  the  powerful  stroke  of  his  mighty  hand  the  firmness 
of  the  iron  gates  gives  way:  the  latches  are  broken,  the 
hinges  creak,  and  fearless  Gromvdl  goes  in. 

He  unsheathes  his  sword,  ready  to  strike,  and,  groping, 


Gavrilo  Petrovich  Kamenev  4^3 

goes  into  the  castle.  Quiet  and  gloom  lie  over  all,  only 
through  the  windows  and  chinks  the  whirlwind  whistles. 

The  knight  cries  out  in  anger  and  in  grief:  "  Ferocious 
wizard,  greedy  Zlomdr!  You  have  compelled  Gromvdl  to 
wander  over  the  world,  you  have  stolen  Rogny6da,  his 
companion ! 

' '  Many  a  kingdom  and  land  have  I  passed,  have  struck 
down  mighty  knights  and  monsters,  have  vanquished  giants 
with  my  mighty  hand,  but  have  not  yet  found  my  beloved 
Rogny6da ! 

"  Where  do  you  dwell,  evil  Zlomdr?  In  wild  mountain 
fastnesses,  in  caves,  in  forests,  in  murky  underground  pass- 
ages, in  the  depth  of  the  sea  do  you  hide  her  from  my  view  ? 

"  If  I  find  your  habitation,  wicked  magician,  evil  sorcerer, 
I  will  drag  Rogny^da  out  of  her  captivity,  I  will  pull  out 
your  black  heart  from  your  breast." 

The  knight  grows  silent,  and  sleep  comes  over  him. 
Fatigue  and  night  make  him  a  bed.  Without  taking  oflF  his 
armour,  in  the  breastplate  arid  helmet,  he  kneels  down  and 
falls  into  a  deep  sleep. 

The  clouds  hurry  away,  and  the  storm  dies  down,  the 
stars  grow  dim,  the  east  grows  light;  the  morning  star 
awakes,  Zimts6rla  blooms  like  a  crimson  rose,  but  Gromvdl 
is  still  asleep. 

The  sun  rolls  over  the  vault  of  heaven,  at  noon  glows  with 
its  heated  rays,  and  the  pitch  of  the  pines  waters  through 
the  bark,  but  sleep  still  keeps  Gromvdl  in  its  embrace. 

The  forerunner  of  the  night  with  olive  brow  glances  from 
the  east  upon  the  forest  and  fields,  and  from  an  urn  sprinkles 
dew  upon  the  sward;  but  sleep  still  keeps  Gromvdl  in  its 
embrace. 

Night,  with  cypress  crown  upon  its  head,  in  a  garment 
woven  of  darkness  and  stars,  walks  frowning,  over  stairs,  to 
its  throne;  but  sleep  still  keeps  Gromvdl  in  its  embrace. 

Clouds  congest  in  the  vault  of  heaven,  darkness  grows 
thick,  midnight  comes  on;  the  hero,  awakening  from  his 
deep  sleep,  wonders  when  he  sees  not  the  crimson  dawn. 

Suddenly  peals  roar  in  the  castle  like  thunder;   the  walls 


4H  The  Eighteenth  Century 

shake,  the  windows  rattle,  and,  as  lightnings  rapidly  flash  in 
the  darkness,  the  hall  is  made  bright  with  a  terrible  fire. 

All  the  doors  bang  loud  as  they  open:  in  white  shrouds, 
with  candles  in  their  hands,  shadows  appear;  behind  them 
skeletons  carry  in  their  bony  hands  an  iron  coffin. 

They  place  the  coffin  in  the  vast  hall;  immediately  the 
lid  flies  off,  and  the  wizard  Zlomar,  O  horrible  sight!  lies 
breathless  within,  with  open  eyes. 

The  floor  opens  wide,  and  a  hellish  fire  rises  up  in  a  howl- 
ing whirlwind  and  thunder,  and,  embracing  the  iron  coffin, 
heats  it  to  a  white  glow;  Zlomdr  sighs  the  heavy  sigh  of 
Gehenna. 

In  his  wild,  fierce,  bloodshot  eyes  terror  is  painted,  de- 
spair and  grief;  from  his  mouth  black  foam  boils  in  a  cloud, 
but  the  magician  lies  motionless,  like  a  corpse. 

The  ghosts  and  skeletons,  taking  each  other's  hands,  yell, 
howl,  laugh,  whistle;  raving  in  rapturous  orgy,  they  dance 
a  hellish  dance  around  his  coffin. 

Midnight  passes  in  a  terrible  entertainment,  and  their 
groans  and  howls  thunder  ever  more  horrible.  But  scarcely 
has  the  herald  of  morning  crowed  three  times,  when  ghosts, 
skeletons  and  coffin  suddenly  disappear. 

There  is  darkness  as  in  the  grave,  and  quiet  all  around; 
in  the  forest  nearby  is  silence  and  gloom.  Gromvdl  per- 
plexed, marvels  at  the  appearance,  and  wondering  does  not 
believe  himself. 

Suddenly  a  magic  flute  is  heard,  and  the  sound  of  the  harp 
strikes  his  ears:  the  vault  of  the  hall  bursts  open,  and  a 
rose-coloured  beam,  with  its  soft  light,  dispels  dense  night. 

In  a  light  cloud  of  fragrant  vapours,  as  if  a  fresh  breeze 
were  blowing  and  a  swan  gently  gliding  high  up  in  the  air, 
a  sorceress  softly  descends  into  the  hall. 

Purer  than  the  lily  is  her  garment ;  her  girdle  shines  on 
her  waist  like  hyacinth;  like  the  twinkle  of  the  gold-gleam- 
ing eastern  star,  merriment  beams  in  her  eyes. 

With  a  pleasant  voice  Dobrdda  speaks:  "Sad  knight, 
submit  to  your  fate!  Zlomdr  is  no  longer;  fate  has  for  ever 
cleared  the  world  from  that  wrongdoer. 


Gavrilo  Petr6vich  Kamenev  415 

"  Into  the  abyss  of  hell  he  has  been  hurled  for  ever;  the 
jaws  of  Gehenna  have  swallowed  him;  with  the  gurgling  of 
the  lava  and  the  roar  of  the  fire,  the  abyss  alone  will  hear 
his  howl  and  groan. 

"Death,  transgressing  the  law  of  nature,  has  not  deprived 
the  magician's  body  of  feeling :  the  shades  of  persons  by  him 
destroyed  nightly  torment  him  here  in  the  castle. 

"  Knight,  hasten  to  your  Rogny6da!  To  the  south  of  the 
forest,  in  a  sandy  plain,  in  a  steel  prison  of  Zlomdr's  castle, 
two  winged  Zilants  watch  her. 

"Accept  this  magic  horn  from  me;  it  has  the  power  to 
close  the  jaws  of  monsters.  But  listen!  You  cannot  save 
Rognyeda  without  shedding  her  blood, — thus  the  fates  have 
decreed." 

The  magic  strings  sound  again ;  the  cloud  is  wafted  up- 
wards with  Dobrada.  Struck  dumb  by  this  speech,  and 
beside  himself,  Gromval,  like  a  statue  of  stone,  follows  her 
with  his  glances. 

Holding  the  emerald  horn  in  his  hand,  in  bitter  resent- 
ment, the  hero  exclaims:  "  Ill-starred  gift  of  the  faithless 
sorceress,  you  promise  happiness  to  me  by  the  death  of 
Rognyeda ! 

* '  No !  I  tremble  at  the  very  thought,  and  my  heart  flies 
a  sacrifice  to  her.  But,  Gromvdl,  obey  the  dictum  of  fate, 
and  hasten  to  destroy  Zlomdr's  sorcery. 

'  *  If  you  cannot  save  Rognyeda,  lay  the  castle  in  ruins, 
vanquish  the  Zilants, — shed  your  heroic  blood  for  her,  and 
crown  your  love  with  an  heroic  death ! ' ' 

A  beautiful  morning  with  radiant  beam  gilds  the  tops  of 
century  oaks.  Turning  his  horse  to  the  midday  sun,  our 
knight  leaves  both  the  castle  and  forest. 

Ravines,  cliffs,  rapids,  crags,  groan  under  the  heavy 
beats  of  the  hoofs;  dense  dust  like  a  cloud  and  whirling  in 
a  pillar  flies  upwards  where  Gromvdl  races. 

Through  the  gloomy  pass  of  a  rocky  mount  the  knight 
rides  into  a  vast  steppe:  an  ocean  of  sand  spreads  before  his 
view,  and  in  the  distance,  it  seems  mingled  with  the  sky. 

No  wind  stirs  the  sandy  waves;  heat  breathes  there  its 


41 6  The  Eighteenth  Century 

pestiferous  breath ;  no  shrubs  rustle  there,  nor  brooks  babble: 
all  is  quiet  and  still  as  in  the  cemetery  at  midnight. 

Through  that  wilderness,  those  terrible  fields,  no  road 
leads,  no  tracks  are  seen ;  only  in  the  east  one  can  discern  a 
steep  mountain,  and  upon  it  a  mighty  castle  stands  out  black 
in  the  distance. 

Struggling  three  days  with  thirst  and  heat,  the  hero  passes 
the  barrier  of  death ;  on  his  worn-out  steed,  and  in  a  bloody 
perspiration,  he  slowly  reaches  the  foot  of  the  mountain. 

Over  slippery  paths  on  overhanging  cliflfs  that  threaten  to 
crash  down  into  the  valley,  slowly  ascending  the  narrow 
footpath  above  an  abyss,  Gromvdl  reaches  the  top  and  castle. 

Zlomdr  has  built  this  castle  with  the  power  of  Gehenna  and 
the  spirits  of  Hell.  The  turrets  that  tower  above  black  cliffs 
announce  destruction  and  evil  death. 

With  Rogny^da  in  his  heart,  with  bravery  in  his  soul, 
Gromvdl,  like  a  fierce  storm,  breaks  the  hinges  of  the  cast- 
iron  doors,  and  with  his  tempered  spear  enters  the  terrible 
castle. 

Furious  he  advances^ — under  his  mighty  heel  dead  bones 
and  skulls  crack;  ravens,  birds  of  the  night  and  bats  are 
awakened  in  the  mossy  crevices  of  the  walls. 

They  hover  like  a  cloud  above  the  castle,  and  their  terrible 
cries  shake  the  air;  the  Zilants,  hearing  Gromvdl' s  arrival, 
begin  to  howl  and  whistle,  and  flap  their  wings. 

Opening  their  jaws,  they  fly  against  him;  their  stings 
issue  from  their  mouths  like  spears ;  they  rattle  their  scales, 
bending  their  tails,  and  stretch  out  their  destructive  claws 
from  their  feet. 

The  hero  blows  his  emerald  horn, —  the  sound  deafens 
them,  and  they  fall  like  rocks;  their  wings  are  dipt,  their 
jaws  are  closed;  falling  into  a  sleep  of  death,  they  lie  in 
mounds. 

In  rapture  the  knight  flies  to  the  dungeon  to  embrace 
Rogny^da  with  flaming  heart;  but  instead,  an  enormous 
door  is  opened,  and  a  giant,  mailed  in  armour,  comes  to  meet 
him. 

His  furious  glances  are  comets  in  the  dark ;  brass  is  his 


Gavrilo  Petr6vich  Kamenev  4^7 

corselet,  lead  his  warclub;  grey  moss  of  the  bog  is  his 
beard,  a  black  forest  after  the  storm  the  hair  on  his  head. 

Swinging  his  club  with  a  terrible  might,  the  giant  lets  it 
fall  on  Gromvdl  and  strikes  his  valiant  head:  the  echo 
shakes,  reverberating  through  the  castle. 

The  helmet  clangs  and  is  shattered  to  pieces;  sparks  issue 
from  his  dark  eyes.  From  the  stroke  the  club  is  bent  as  a 
bow,  but  Gromvdl,  like  a  rock,  does  not  move  from  the  spot. 

The  sword  flashes  in  his  heroic  hand,  and  strikes  the 
wretch  like  a  thunderbolt;  his  strong  brass  would  have 
broken  to  splinters,  but  the  blade  glides  down  his  magic  coat 
of  mail. 

The  giant  roars  in  evil  madness,  breathes  flames,  trembles 
with  anger;  he  swells  the  muscles  of  his  powerful  shoulders, 
and  threatens  to  crush  Gromvdl  in  his  claws. 

Death  is  unavoidable,  destruction  near ;  his  terrible  hands 
touch  his  corselet;  but  Gromval,  seizing  his  leg  like  an  oak, 
makes  him  totter,  and  brings  him  to  his  fall. 

The  giant  falls  like  a  crumbling  tower,  and  shakes  all  the 
castle  with  his  terrible  cry ;  the  walls  recede,  the  battlements 
fall ;  he  is  prostrate  on  the  ground,  and  has  dug  a  grave  in 
the  damp  earth. 

Grasping  his  throat  with  his  mighty  hand,  Gromvdl 
thrusts  his  sword  into  his  jaws;  the  giant's  teeth  gnash 
against  the  steel;  he  roars  and  groans,  and  writhes  in  con- 
vulsions. 

Black  foam  and  crimson  blood  lash  and  gush  from  his 
mouth;  furious  with  suffering,  battling  with  death,  he  digs 
the  earth  with  his  feet,  trembles,  lies  in  the  agony  of  death. 

Mingling  in  a  boiling  stream  the  giant's  blood  wells  up; 
a  gentle  vapour,  rising  from  it  in  a  cloud,  forms  the  outline 
of  fair  Rogny^da. 

The  roses  in  her  cheeks,  the  charm  in  her  eyes,  the  crimson 
lips  beckon  for  a  kiss;  her  hair,  falling  like  velvet  over  her 
shoulders,  veils  her  swan's  breast, 

Gromvdl  marvels  at  this  miracle :  does  he  see  a  vision  or  a 
real  being  ?  Approaching  her  with  hope  and  hesitation,  he 
presses  not  a  dream,  but  Rogny^da  to  his  breast. 


41 8  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Filled  with  passionate  rapture,  Gromvdl  addresses  his  love 
with  tender  words:  "Long,  oh,  long  have  I  sought  you, 
Rogny^a,  and  have,  like  a  shadow,  wandered  over  the  wide 
world!" 

Drawing  a  deep  breath,  she  says:  "  The  evil  magician,  the 
cunning  Zlomdr,  impelled  by  his  despicable  passion,  brought 
me  to  this  enchanted  castle. 

'  *  Here  he  touched  me  with  his  magic  wand,  and  deprived 
me  of  memory  and  feelings.  Falling  immediately  into  a 
mysterious  trance,  I  have  ever  since  been  shrouded  in  deepest 
darkness." 

Taking  Rogny6da  by  her  hand,  Gromvdl  softly  descends 
to  the  foot  of  the  mountain.  He  seats  her  behind  him  on 
his  steed,  and  like  an  arrow  flies  back  on  the  road. 

Deep  darkness  covers  the  castle;  thunders  roar  furiously 
in  the  night;  stormy  whirlwinds,  tearing  themselves  away 
from  their  chains,  howl,  and  the  flinty  ribs  of  the  rock 
tremble. 

With  a  terrible  roar  the  earth  bursts  open,  and  the  towers 
fall  into  the  bottomless  abyss:  the  Zilants,  dungeon,  giants 
are  overthown  :  Gromval  has  vanquished  the  magic  of 
Zlomdr. 

Vladisldv  Aleks&ndrovich  6zerov.    (1770-1816.) 

Ozerov  entered  the  military  school  when  a  child,  left  it  as  a  lieu- 
tenant in  1788,  and  then  was  made  adjutant  to  the  director  of  the 
school.  Count  Anhalt,  who  died  in  1794.  His  first  literary  venture 
was  an  In  Memoriatn  to  the  director,  written  in  French.  He  then 
tried  himself  in  odes  and  shorter  songs,  of  which  only  the  Hymn  to 
the  God  of  Love  rises  above  mediocrity.  He  scored  his  first  great 
success  in  his  tragedy  CEdipus  at  Athens,  which  produced  a  stirring 
eflFect  upon  the  audience.  This  was  followed  by  Fin^al,  the  subject 
being  from  Ossian.  But  the  drama  that  most  aflfected  his  generation 
was  Dimitri  Donskby,  which  appeared  opportunely  on  the  eve  of 
Napoleon's  invasion,  in  1807.  The  element  of  tearfulness,  or  "  senti- 
mentality," as  Karamzin  called  it,  which  Ozerov  was  the  first  to  in- 
troduce into  the  Russian  tragedy,  and  the  patriotic  subject  which  he 
developed  in  his  Dimitri  Donskby  combined  to  make  his  plays  very 
popular,  though  his  verse  is  rather  heavy  and  artificial. 


Vladislav  Aleksindrovich  Ozerov     419 

DIMITRI  DONSKOY 

act  i.,  scene  i.    dimitri  and  t^e  other  princes, 
boyArs  and  generals 

Ditnitri.  Russian  princes,  boyars,  generals,  you  who  have 
crossed  the  Don  to  find  liberty  and,  at  last,  to  cast  off  the 
yokes  that  have  been  forced  upon  us !  How  long  were  we 
to  endure  the  dominion  of  the  Tartars  in  our  land,  and,  con- 
tent with  an  humble  fate,  sit  as  slaves  on  our  princely 
throne  ?  Two  centuries  had  nearly  passed  when  Heaven  in 
its  anger  sent  that  scourge  against  us;  for  almost  two  cent- 
uries the  foes,  now  openly,  now  hidden,  like  hungry  ravens, 
like  insatiable  wolves,  have  been  destroying,  burning,  plun- 
dering us.  I  have  called  you  here  to  avenge  us:  the  time 
has  now  come  to  repay  the  foe  for  our  calamities.  The 
Kipchdk  horde  has,  like  a  gigantic  burden,  been  lying  on 
Russian  shoulders,  spreading  desolation  and  terror  all 
around,  but  now,  heavy  by  its  own  weight,  it  has  fallen  to 
pieces.  Civil  strife,  dissension  and  all  the  ills  which  here- 
tofore had  brought  the  Russian  land  to  utter  weakness, 
have  now  penetrated  the  horde.  New  khans  have  arisen 
who  have  torn  themselves  loose  from  it;  but  the  insatiable 
tyrants,  having  barely  risen,  threaten  our  land.  The  most 
insatiable  of  them  and  most  cunning,  Mamdy,  the  accursed 
ruler  of  the  Trans-Don  horde,  has  risen  against  us  in  an  un- 
just war.  He  is  hurrying  against  us,  and  perhaps  with  to- 
morrow's dawn  will  appear  before  our  camp.  But  seeing 
the  sudden  union  of  the  Russian  forces,  his  heart  was  dis- 
turbed, and  his  mind  misgave  him,  so  he  decided  to  send 
first  an  embassy  to  us.  Friends  of  Dimitri,  do  you  advise 
to  receive  them?  Or,  remaining  firm  in  our  heroic  intention, 
shall  we  answer  Mamdy  in  front  of  our  army,  when  the  first 
bold  onslaught  of  the  Russians  would  resound  upon  the 
earth  and  would  frighten  the  Tartars  ? 

Tverskdy.  I^et  us  give  the  answer  before  the  armj'  in  the 
field  of  battle!  None  of  us,  O  princes,  can  be  more  anxious 
than  I  to  avenge  ourselves  on  the  inhuman  foe.     Whose 


420  The  Eighteenth  Century 

family  can  compare  with  the  Tversk6ys  in  misfortunes  they 
have  borne  ?  My  grandfather  and  his  sire,  after  endless 
tortures,  lay  their  heads  in  the  graves  through  the  treach- 
ery of  the  infidel,  and  their  ashes  groan  under  the  power  of 
the  horde.  Grand  Prince  of  Russia,  you  have  called  us 
hither  not  to  enter  into  parley  with  Mamdj',  but  to  decide 
in  battle  and  end  all  discord  with  him.     .     .     . 

Byelozerski.  Oh,  how  happy  am  I  to  have  lived  to  see  this 
day,  to  contemplate  here  the  concord  and  love  among  the 
princes,  and  the  unanimous  zeal  in  your  hearts  against  the 
enemy!  I,  about  to  bear  my  age  into  the  yawning  grave, 
will  be  able  to  bring  hope  to  the  departed  fathers,  that  the 
honour  of  the  Russian  land  is  to  be  reinstated,  that  her 
power  and  glory  is  to  return.  O  shades  of  Vladimir,  and 
you,  shades  of  YarosUv,  ancestral  heads  of  princely  houses ! 
In  the  lap  of  the  angels  you  will  rejoice,  as  you  foresee  the 
blessed  time  when  the  disunited  nation  of  Russian  tribes, 
uniting  with  one  soul  into  one  whole,  will  triumphantly  ap- 
pear a  threatening  giant,  and  united  Russia  will  give  laws 
to  the  world!  Dimitri,  your  victory  is  certain!  No,  never 
before  has  such  an  army  been  gathered  in  so  far-reaching  a 
camp,  either  by  your  grandfather  Iv&n,  or  Sime6n  the  Ter- 
rible, or  your  meek  father!  I,  the  old  leader  of  the  forces 
of  Byel6zersk,  have  never  seen  Russia  lead  out  such  numbers 
of  bold  warriors.  Of  all  the  Russian  princes,  Ol^g  alone 
has  remained  in  idleness  at  Ryazan,  and  without  interest  in 
the  expedition ;  his  ear  alone  is  deaf  to  the  common  groan. 
May  the  memory  of  those  perish  whose  spirit  can  with  quiet 
eye  see  the  country's  woes,  or  rather,  let  their  name  with 
disgrace  and  endless  shame  pass  to  late  posterity !  Yet,  my 
lord,  however  flattering  your  success  may  be,  ray  advice  is 
to  receive  the  Tartar  embassy,  and  if  we  can  establish  peace 
by  paying  a  tribute  to  Mamdy,  .  .  .  (^All  the  princes 
express  dissatisfaction.^ 

Dimitri.  O  Prince  of  Byel6zersk,  what  do  you  propose  ? 
Fearing  strife,  to  acknowledge  the  Tartar's  power  by  paying 
a  shameful  tribute  ? 

ByelSzerski.   To  spare  the  priceless  Christian  blood.     If 


Vladislav  Aleksindrovich  Ozerov     421 

we  conquer  Mamdy,  look  out,  the  hordes  will  once  more 
unite  for  our  common  woe;  beware,  this  temporarily  suc- 
cessful exploit  will  again  rouse  their  ambitious  spirit,  and 
they  will  perceive  at  last  how  injurious  for  their  ambition 
their  strife  is,  which  separates  their  khans.  The  murders, 
fire,  slaughter  of  wives  and  children  which  the  Tartars  have 
perpetrated  against  us,  in  their  opinion,  give  the  hordes  a 
right  over  us.  They  deem  Russia  to  be  their  patrimony. 
Seeing  our  bravery,  they  will  stop  their  disorders,  and  will 
soon,  united,  bring  misery  on  the  Russians.  Rather  give 
them  a  chance  to  weaken  in  their  destructive  discord; 
let  us  gather  strength  in  the  peaceful  quiet  and,  warding 
off  the  chances  of  war,  choose  peace  instead  of  useless 
victory. 

Dimitri.  Oh,  better  death  in  battle  than  dishonourable 
peace!  Thus  our  ancestors  thought,  thus  we,  too,  will 
think.  Those  times  are  past  when  timid  minds  saw  in  the 
Tartars  a  tool  of  Heaven,  which  it  is  senseless  and  improper 
to  oppose.  In  our  days  honour  and  the  very  voice  of"  faith 
arm  us  against  the  tormentors.  That  voice,  that  prophetic 
voice  of  faith,  proclaims  to  us  that  an  immortal  crown  awaits 
the  fallen  in  battle,  that  through  the  grave  they  pass  to 
eternal  joy.  O  Sergi,  pastor  of  souls,  whom  the  groans  of  fel- 
low-citizens have  so  often  disturbed  in  your  hermit  prayers, 
and  whose  tears  have  so  abundantly  flowed  lamenting  the 
fate  of  the  innocent,  O  you  who  with  sacred  hand  blessed  us 
for  the  impending  battle!  In  your  hermit  cell,  where  you 
pass  your  humble  days,  listen  to  my  words:  inspired  by  you, 
they  will  inflame  the  Russian  hearts  to  seek  here  liberty  or 
the  heavenly  crown !  'T  is  better  to  cease  living,  or  not  to  be 
born  at  all,  than  to  submit  to  the  yoke  of  a  foreign  tribe, 
than  with  the  name  of  payers  of  tribute  to  flatter  their  greed. 
Can  we  with  such  slavery  avert  our  misfortunes  ?  He  who 
pays  a  tribute  is  weak;  he  who  evinces  a  weak  spirit  in- 
vites arrogant  lust  to  insult.  But  I  am  ready  to  receive  the 
Khan's  messenger  and  to  bring  him  before  the  assembly  of 
the  princes,  not  to  listen  to  the  shameless  propositions  of 
Tartar  arrogance,  but  to  announce  to  him  the  resolve  for 


422  The  Eighteenth  Century 

war,  that  he  may  read  valour  in  our  brows,  and,  shuddering, 
bear  terror  into  Marady's  camp. 

SmoUnski.  The  whole  assembly  announces  assent  to  your 
advice, 

Dimitri.  The  messenger  awaits  the  decision  near  the  tent. 
You,  Br6nski,  bring  in  the  Tartars  that  have  come  to  us! 

Prince  Iv4n  Mikh&ylovich  Dolgori^ki.    (1764-1823.) 

Ivdn  Mikhdylovich  Dolgoriiki  was  the  grandson  of  Prince  Ivdn 
Aleksydevich,  the  favourite  of  Peter  II.  (see  p.  233).  In  1791  he  left 
the  army  with  the  rank  of  brigadier.  He  was  then  made  Vice- 
Governor  of  P^nza,  where  he  sought  relief  from  the  humdrum  life  of 
a  provincial  town  in  reading  and  in  writing  poetry.  One  of  the  first 
of  his  poems  to  attract  attention  was  the  envoi  To  my  Lackey ;  he 
became  universally  known  through  his  My  Penza  Fireplace.  In 
1802  he  was  appointed  Governor  of  Vladimir.  Not  long  after  his  re- 
turn to  Moscow  he  was  forced  to  retire  before  the  advancing  French- 
men. During  his  retreat  he  wrote  his  Lament  of  Moscow.  His  best 
poem  is  probably  his  Legacy.  While  not  a  poet  of  the  first  order, 
Dolgorfiki  displayed  great  originality  and  much  depth  of  feeling. 
This  is  what  he  himself  said  of  his  poems :  "  In  my  poems  I  wished 
to  preserve  all  the  shades  of  my  feelings,  to  see  in  them,  as  in  a  pic- 
ture, the  whole  history  of  my  heart,  its  agitation,  the  change  in  my 
manner  of  thinking,  the  progress  of  my  thoughts  in  the  different 
ages  of  my  life,  and  the  gradual  development  of  my  small  talents. 
Every  verse  reminds  me  of  some  occurrence,  or  thought,  or  mood 
that  influenced  me  at  such  and  such  a  moment.  .  .  .  That  is  the 
key  to  the  originality  which  many  are  so  kind  as  to  ascribe  to  my 
productions."     The  Legacy  was  translated  by  Sir  John  Bowring. 

THE  LEGACY 

When  time's  vicissitudes  are  ended. 

Be  this,  be  this  my  place  of  rest; 
Here  let  my  bones  with  earth  be  blended, 

Till  sounds  the  trumpet  of  the  blest. 
For  here,  in  common  home,  are  mingled 
Their  dust,  whom  fame  or  fortune  singled; 

And  those  whom  fortune,  fame  passed  by, 
All  mingled,  and  all  mouldering; — folly 
And  wisdom,  mirth  and  melancholy, 

Slaves,  tyrants, — all  mixt  carelessly. 


Prince  Ivcin  Mikh^ylovich  Dolgoriiki    423 

lyist!     'T  is  the  voice  of  time, — Creation's 

Unmeasured  arch  repeats  the  tone; 
Look!    E'en  like  shadows,  mighty  nations 

Are  born,  flit  by  us,  and  are  gone ! 
See !     Children  of  a  common  father. 
See  stranger-crowds,  like  vapours  gather; 

Sires,  sons,  descendants,  come  and  go. 
Sad  history!     Yet  e'en  there  the  spirit 
Some  joys  may  build,  some  hopes  inherit, 

And  wisdom  gather  flowers  from  woe. 

There,  like  a  bee-swarm,  round  the  token 

Of  unveiled  truth  shall  sects  appear, 
And  evil's  poisonous  sting  be  broken 

In  the  bright  glance  of  virtue's  spear. 
And  none  shall  ask,  what  dormitory 
Was  this  man's  doom,  what  robes  of  glory 

Wore  he,  what  garlands  crowned  his  brow,— 
Was  pomp  his  slave  ? — Come  now,  discover 
The  heart,  the  soul, — Delusion  's  over, — 

What  was  his  conduct  ? — Answer  now ! 

Where  stands  yon  hill-supported  tower, 

By  Fili,  shall  I  wake  again, 
Summoned  to  meet  Almighty  Power 

In  judgment,  like  my  fellow-men. 
I  shall  be  there,  and  friends  and  brothers, 
Sisters  and  children,  fathers,  mothers, — 

With  joy  that  never  shall  decay; 
The  soul,  substantial  blessing  beaming 
(All  here  is  shadowy  and  seeming). 

Drinks  bliss  no  time  can  sweep  away. 

Friends,  on  my  brow  that  rests  when  weary 

Erect  no  proud  and  pompous  pile: 
Your  monuments  are  vain  and  dreary, 

Their  splendour  cannot  deck  the  vile. 
A  green  grave,  by  no  glare  attended. 
With  other  dust  and  ashes  blended, 


424  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Oh,  let  my  dust  and  ashes  lie ! 
There,  as  I  sleep,  Time,  never  sleeping, 
Shall  gather  ages  to  his  keeping, 

For  such  is  nature's  destiny. 


My  wife,  my  children  shall  inherit 

All  I  possessed, — 't  was  mine,  't  is  theirs; 
For  death,  that  steals  the  living  spirit. 

Gives  all  earth's  fragments  to  its  heirs. 
Send  round  no  circling-briefs  of  sorrow, 
No  garments  of  the  raven  borrow ; 

*T  is  idle  charge,  't  is  costly  pride. 
Be  gay,  through  rain  and  frosty  weather, 
Nor  gather  idle  priests  together 

To  chant  my  humble  grave  beside. 

Cry,  orphans !     Cry,  ye  poor !  imploring 

The  everlasting  God,  that  He 
May  save  me  when  I  sink,  adoring, 

Amidst  His  boundless  mercy-sea. 
My  blessing  to  my  foes  be  given, 
Their  curses  far  from  me  be  driven, 

Nor  break  upon  my  hallowed  bliss; 
God  needs  no  studied  words  from  mortals, 
A  sigh  may  enter  Heaven's  wide  portals, — 

He  could  not  err,  He  taught  us  this. 

No  songs,  no  eleg^, — death  hearkens 

To  music  ne'er  though  sweet  it  be: 
When  o'er  you  night's  oblivion  darkens, 

Then  let  oblivion  shadow  me. 
No  verse  will  soften  Hades'  sadness. 
No  verse  can  break  on  Eden's  gladness, 

*T  is  all  parade  and  shifting  glare: — 
A  stream,  where  scattered  trees  are  growing, 
A  secret  tear,  in  silence  flowing, 

No  monument  as  these  so  fair. 


Prince  Iv^n  Mikhaylovich  Dolgoriki    425 

Such  slumber  here,  their  memory  flashes 

Across  my  thoughts. — Hail,  sister,  hail! 
I  kiss  thy  sacred  bed  of  ashes. 

And  soon  shall  share  thy  mournful  tale. 
Thou  hast  paid  thy  earthly  debts, — 't  is  ended, 
Thy  cradle  and  thy  tomb  are  blended, 

The  circle  of  thy  being  run ; 
And  now  in  peace  thy  history  closes, 
And  thy  stilled,  crumbling  frame  reposes 

Where  life's  short,  feverish  play  is  done. 

I  live  and  toil, — my  thoughts  still  follow 

The  idle  world : — my  care  pursue 
Dreams  and  delusions,  baseless,  hollow. 

And  vanities  still  false,  though  new. 
Then  fly  I  earthly  joys,  I  find  them 
Ivcave  terror- working  stings  behind  them: 

"  Beware,  beware! "  experience  cries; 
Yet  ah !  how  faint  the  voice  of  duty, 
One  smile  of  yonder  flattering  beauty 

Would  make  me  waste  even  centuries. 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of 
the  Russian  Poets,  Part  II. 

MY  MOSCOW  FIREPLACE 

Scarcely  have  we  seen  summer,  behold,  winter  is  here! 
The  frests  drive  us  into  our  rooms,  and  will  for  a  long  time 
keep  us  within.  Nature's  beauty  is  changed,  and  dimmed 
by  the  veil  of  night.  Oh,  what  shall  I  do  ?  What  begin  ? 
I  will  move  up  to  my  dear  fireplace,  and  will  share  with  it, 
as  before,  my  melancholy. 

Whatever  countries  I  have  been  in,  whether  my  house 
was  large  or  small,  whether  I  paraded  in  high  palace  halls, 
or  retired  to  my  apartments, — the  fireplace,  my  winter  bene- 
factor, was  everywhere  the  witness  of  my  acts:  whole  days 
I  passed  with  it  alone;  pining,  sorrows  and  annoyances,  con- 
solation, pleasure,  joy, — my  fireplace  has  experienced  them 
all. 


426  The  Eighteenth  Century 

Whenever  I  mentally  survey  all  human  lots  in  this  world, 
and  by  the  fireplace  in  my  study  judge  of  humanity,  I  with 
difficulty  can  harmonise  in  my  imagination  the  opinions  of 
happiness  that  are  common  to  all.  The  whole  world  Mves 
in  a  noise  and  din;  but  what  does  it  find  in  place  of  happi- 
ness ?     New  causes  for  worriment. 

Kings,  of  their  own  free  will,  leave  the  throne  and  hasten 
to  arms;  in  their  elevated  place  they  not  seldom  curse  their 
lives.  No  matter  how  boydrs  grow  stout,  they  also  pale  in 
their  good  fortune,  like  their  lowest  slave.  He  in  his  un- 
bounded sphere,  the  other  in  his  earth  hut,  or  cave, — both 
are  weak  against  the  attack. 

Everywhere  they  have  written  of  happiness,  and  will  al- 
ways prate  about  it,  but  they  have  nowhere  found  it.  Yes, 
't  is  difficult  to  attain !  And  I,  though  a  simple  man,  can 
also  like  a  philosopher  aver  it  is  within  me;  but  where, 
and  how  to  find  it? — I  do  not  know!  In  sorrow  I  suffer 
openly;  whenever  I  am  merry,  't  is  as  if  in  a  dream. 

Protesting  against  the  evil  of  the  passions,  knitting  his 
brow,  like  Cato,  when  all  is  quiet  in  his  soul,  the  philosopher 
proclaims  his  law :  '  *  Why  be  enslaved  by  passions  ?  We  must 
submit  to  reason.  All  our  desires  are  an  empty  dream ;  all 
upon  earth,  O  men,  is  transitory :  seek  eternal  happiness  in 
Heaven,  for  the  world  is  vanity  of  vanities. 

"  If  one  dish  satisfies  your  hunger,  why  have  three?  If 
you  have  a  caftan,  what  is  the  use  of  five  ?  What  need  is 
there  of  a  pile  of  money  ?  When  you  die,  you  will  not  take 
it  with  you.  Contract  the  limits  of  your  necessities,  flee 
from  the  city  into  the  country,  live  quietly  your  allotted 
time,  with  equanimity  bear  insults,  magnanimously  suffer 
sorrow,  be  more  than  man!  " 

What  are  you  yourself,  my  teacher  ?  Are  you  a  god,  or 
an  angel  in  the  flesh  ?  Guardian  of  deep  wisdom,  permit  me 
to  look  within  you !  Reveal  to  us  not  your  mind  alone,  but 
your  feelings,  announce  to  us  without  ambiguity:  are  you 
yourself?  I  see,  you  are  a  vain  hypocrite:  you  do  not  be- 
lieve your  own  sermon,  you  are  an  empty-sounding  cymbal. 

Oh,  if  people  all  lived  as  reason  bids  them !     If  feelings 


Prince  Ivan  Mikhiylovich  Dolgoniki    427 

were  more  gentle,  if  the  fount  of  blood  did  not  boil, — how 
nice  life  would  be !  All  would  be  peace  and  security,  and 
love  the  tie  of  all  the  lands  ;  people  would  not  devour 
each  other;  and  a  Frenchman,  an  Arab,  a  Mussulman  would 
live  in  harmony  together. 

Oh,  if  ...  I  need  but  place  this  word  at  the  head, 
and  my  pen  creates  at  once  a  new  earth,  nay,  heaven.  All 
kingdoms  will  flow  with  abundance,  all  men  will  be  equally 
strong,  nowhere  there  shall  be  snow,  nor  winter,  but  flowers 
will  grow  the  year  around,  and  we  will  not  run  to  the  fire- 
place,— we  shall  be  regenerated. 

Oh  no !  I  am  sorry  for  the  fireplace !  Let  us  leave  all  as 
it  is:  we  cannot  reproduce  what  my  reason  has  evoked.  Let 
the  sphere  circle  around,  and  let  each  various  chimera  dis- 
port with  every  mind !  The  Creator  will  turn  all  for  the 
best:  to-day  the  chill  disturbs  us,  but  the  thunder  of  the 
summer  does  not  terrify  us. 

I  hear  at  all  times  of  the  good  qualities  of  countrymen, 
what  beautiful  lives  they  lead,  and  how  the  law  of  nature  is 
not  trampled  upon  by  them.  ' '  Their  manners, ' '  they  assert, 
"  are  coarser,  but  their  amusements  are  incomparably 
simpler  than  ours:  they  live  in  freedom  with  each  other,  do 
not  drink  nor  eat  according  to  the  fashion."     'T  is  not  true! 

When  we  listen  to  serenades  on  a  beautiful  summer  day, 
while  limpid  waterfalls  make  a  rippling  noise,  and  the  shade 
of  cedars  protects  us  from  the  heat,  the  peasant  hitches  his 
horse  to  the  plough  and  tears  up  the  earth,  or  hauls  a  log,  or, 
if  it  be  winter,  looks  through  dim  windows,  through  which 
nothing  can  be  seen,  at  the  blizzard  without. 

Fireplace,  I  will  not  exchange  you  for  all  the  treasures  of 
the  lords!  You  are  often  my  consolation,  and  always  pleas- 
ant and  agreeable  to  me.  Let  sorrows  be  inevitable:  joy  is 
coextensive  with  them.  You  are  the  throne  of  my  amuse- 
ments; but  I  am  satisfied  with  my  books;  I  feel  with  them 
neither  pain,  nor  think  my  room  small,  and  I  read  them  as 
my  spirit  prompts  me. 

But  when  I  leave  my  book,  and  fix  my  eyes  upon  the  fire- 
place, with  what  pleasure  I  recall  the  host  of  various  incid- 


428  The  Eighteenth  Century 

ents!  I  at  once  reproduce  in  my  mind  the  picture  of  my 
youth,  and  the  progress  and  cause  of  my  cares;  I  even  now, 
as  it  were,  glance  to  the  north,  and  south,  and  the  capital, 
and  the  Finland  border. 

I  accuse  myself  before  thee,  my  Lord!  I  have  in  vain 
killed  my  youth ;  carried  on  the  wave  of  habit,  I  have  given 
my  days  and  nights  to  dreaming.  I,  tossed  now  hither,  now 
thither,  hastened  to  make  new  acquaintances,  and  thought: 
' '  This  is  all  a  loan  I  make ;  some  day  the  debt,  I  am  sure, 
will  be  duly  returned  to  me." 

'T  is  time  to  adapt  myself  to  the  custom!  I  shall  soon  be 
forty  years  old:  it  is  time  to  learn  from  experience  that  to 
judge  people  rightly,  to  know  this  world,  to  seek  friends  is 
a  self-deception  and  vain  endeavour  of  the  heart.  The 
measure  of  human  indifference  is  in  our  days  full  to  over- 
flowing; ask  for  no  examples:  alas!  there  are  too  many  of 
them. 

In  your  presence  all  will  praise  you,  but  let  there  be  an 
occasion  for  helping  you,  and  your  worth  will  be  depreciated, 
or  without  saying  a  word  they  will  walk  away.  If  one  be 
cunning,  he  will  so  oppress  you  that  he  will  compel  you  to 
think  all  your  life  of  him  in  tears;  if  he  be  foolish,  he  will, 
wherever  he  may  meet  you,  cast  a  heap  of  stones  before  you 
and  bar  your  way. 

From  all  such  evils  my  consolation  art  Thou,  only  God, 
God  of  all  creation !  I  need  nothing  more,  for  I  expect  no 
happiness  from  men.  A  hundredfold  more  pleasant  it  is, 
staying  at  home,  and  not  perceiving  in  it  the  temptations  of 
the  world,  to  live  simply  with  your  family  and,  modestly 
passing  your  time  and  vigorously  communing  with  reason, 
to  stir  the  wood  in  the  fireplace. 

Iv4n  Ivdnovich  Dmitriev.    (1760-1837.) 

Dmitriev  was  bom  in  the  Government  of  Simbirsk,  where  his 
friend  and  colleague  Karamzin  was  also  bom.  He  entered  the  army 
in  1775  as  a  common  soldier,  and  did  not  advance  to  the  grade  of 
commissioned  oflBcer  until  1787.  During  his  military  service  he 
privately  studied  foreign  languages  and  wrote  poetry.  His  first  col- 
lection of  poems,  containing  Ermdk,   ll^Aat  Others  Say  and  The 


Ivan  Ivanovich  Dmitriev  429 

Little  Dove,  appeared  in  1795.  These  are  the  best  of  his  productions. 
He  also  wrote  a  number  of  fables  that  do  not  suflFer  by  comparison 
with  those  of  Kryl6v.  His  shorter  songs,  like  The  Little  Dove,  have 
become  very  popular,  and  are  part  of  every  song-book,  together  with 
Neledinski's  "To  the  streamlet  I  '11  repair"  and  other  similar  songs. 
Dmitriev  did  for  poetry  what  Karamzin  was  doing  for  prose, — he 
purified  Russian  from  the  dross  of  the  Church-Slavic  language,  an 
inheritance  from  the  days  of  Lomon6sov,  and  he  popularised  the 
Romantic  spirit  in  Russian  literature.  He  also  encouraged  younger 
men  of  talent,  such  as  Kryl6v.  Dmitriev  rapidly  rose  in  honours, 
until  he  was  made  Minister  of  Justice  in  1810.  He  retired  a  few 
years  later  to  his  estates  near  Moscow,  where  he  passed  his  days  sur- 
rounded by  a  coterie  of  literary  men. 

The  following  English  versions  of  his  poems  have  appeared  :  Dur- 
ing a  Thunder-storm,  The  Tsar  and  the  Two  Shepherds,  The  Broken 
Fiddle,  Over  the  Grave  of  Bogdanovich,  Love  and  Friendship,  in  Sir 
John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the  Russian  Poets,  Part  I. ;  Yermak, 
Moskva  Rescued,  To  the  Volga,  Enjoyment,  "  O  had  I  but  known  be- 
fore," The  Little  Dove,  To  Chloe,  ib..  Part  II. ;  Counsel,  The  Little 
Dove,  in  W.  D.  I/Cwis's  The  Bakchesarian  Fountain  ;  Yermak,  The 
Siskin  and  the  Chaffinch,  The  Doctor,  Sympathy,  in  C.  T.  Wilson's 
Russian  Lyrics;  The  Moon,  in  ' Eraser's  Magazine,  1842  (article, 
Russian  Fabulists). 

THE  LITTI^E  DOVE 

The  little  dove,  with  heart  of  sadness, 
In  silent  pain  sighs  night  and  day; 

What  now  can  wake  that  heart  to  gladness? 
His  mate  beloved  is  far  away. 

He  coos  no  more  with  soft  caresses, 

No  more  is  millet  sought  by  him, 
The  dove  his  lonesome  state  distresses, 

And  tears  his  swimming  eyeballs  dim. 

From  twig  to  twig  now  skips  the  lover, 
Filling  the  grove  with  accents  kind, 

On  all  sides  roams  the  harmless  rover, 
Hoping  his  little  friend  to  find. 

Ah !  vain  that  hope  his  grief  is  tasting, 
Fate  seems  to  scorn  his  faithful  love. 


/ 


430  The  Eighteenth  Century 

And  imperceptibly  is  wasting, 
Wasting  away,  the  little  dove ! 

At  length  upon  the  grass  he  threw  him, 
Hid  in  his  wing  his  beak  and  wept; 

There  ceased  his  sorrows  to  pursue  him, 
The  httle  dove  for  ever  slept. 

His  mate,  now  sad  abroad  and  grieving, 

Flies  from  a  distant  home  again. 
Sits  by  her  friend,  with  bosom  heaving, 

And  bids  him  wake  with  sorrowing  pain. 

She  sighs,  she  weeps,  her  spirits  languish, 
Around  and  round  the  spot  she  goes; 

Ah!  charming  Chloe  'slost  in  anguish. 
Her  friend  wakes  not  from  his  repose! 
— From  W.  D.  Lewis's  The  Bakchesarian  Fountain, 

DURING  A  THUNDER-STORM 

It  thunders !    Sons  of  dust,  in  reverence  bow ! 

Ancient  of  days!     Thou  speakest  from  above; 
Thy  right  hand  wields  the  bolt  of  terror  now; 

That  hand  which  scatters  peace  and  joy  and  love. 
Almighty !     Trembling  like  a  child, 

I  hear  Thy  awful  voice,  alarmed,  afraid, 
I  see  the  flashes  of  Thy  lightning  wild, 

And  in  the  very  grave  would  hide  my  head. 

Lord!    What  is  man  ?    Up  to  the  sun  he  flies. 

Or  feebly  wanders  through  earth's  vale  of  dust: 
There  is  he  lost  'midst  heaven's  high  mysteries, 

And  here  in  error  and  in  darkness  lost. 
Beneath  the  stormclouds,  on  life's  raging  sea, 

Like  a  poor  sailor,  by  the  tempest  tossed 
In  a  frail  bark,  the  sport  of  destiny, 

He  sleeps,  and  dashes  on  the  rocky  coast. 


Iv^n  Iv^novich  Dmitriev  43 1 

Thou  breathest,  and  the  obedient  storm  is  still. 

Thou  speakest, — silent  the  submissive  wave; 
Man's  shattered  ship  the  rushing  waters  fill, 

And  the  hushed  billows  roll  across  his  grave. 
Sourceless  and  endless  God !     Compared  with  Thee, 

I,ife  is  a  shadowy,  momentary  dream, 
And  Time,  when  viewed  through  Thy  eternity. 

Less  than  the  mote  of  morning's  golden  beam. 

— From  Sir  John  Bowring's  Specimens  of  the 
Russian  Poets,  Part  I. 

ermAk 

How  strange  a  sight  is  this  I  see, 

By  thee  revealed.  Antiquity ! 

Beneath  the  gloomy  garb  of  night. 

By  the  pale  moonbeam's  cloudy  light, 

I  gaze  upon  the  Irtysh  stream. 

Whose  waters  foaming,  whirling,  gleam. 

As  on  they  rush  with  angry  tide. 

Two  men  I  see,  exhausted,  there, 

Like  shadows  in  the  murky  air; 

Their  faces  in  their  hands  they  hide. 

One  youthful  is,  the  other  old, 

His  beard  hangs  down  with  wavy  fold; 

Each  wears  a  dress  whose  every  part 

With  awe  and  wonder  fills  the  heart; 

Descending  from  their  helmets  down, 

The  coiling  tails  of  serpents  frown. 

Mingled  with  owlet's  bristling  wing. 

Their  coats  wild-beasts'  skins  borrowing. 

Their  breasts  entire  with  thongs  are  hung, 

Of  flints,  and  rusty  iron,  strung; 

Within  each  belt  is  firmly  prest 

A  knife,  whose  edge  well  sharpened  is; 

Two  drums  are  at  their  feet,  I  wis. 

And  close  beside  their  lances  rest: 

They  both  are  sorcerers  of  Siberian  race, 

And  thus  the  meaning  of  their  words  I  trace. 


432  The  Eighteenth  Century 

THE  OLD  MAN 

"  Roar  on,  old  Irtysh,  let  our  cry 
Along  thy  stream  re-echoing  fly; 
The  gods  have  chastening  sent  in  ire 
And  poured  on  us  misfortunes  dire." 

THE   YOUNG  MAN 

**  Woes,  woes,  upon  us  tenfold  lour 
In  this  our  most  disastrous  hour." 

THE  OLD  MAN 

**  O  thou,  whose  crown  three  nations  bore, 
Their  names  far-spread  from  shore  to  shore  1 
O  mighty,  proud,  and  ancient  State, 
Mother  of  many  races  great ! 
Thy  glory  's  past  and  worn  away, 
No  longer  chief,  thou  must  obey!  " 

THE  YOUNG  MAN 

**As  clouds  of  dust  from  whirlwinds  hie, 
So  scattered  quite  thy  people  lie; 
And  he,  Kuchtim,'  dread  of  the  world, 
Is  dead,  on  foreign  deserts  hurled." 

THE   OLD  MAN 

"  The  holy  Shamans,  forced  from  home, 
^      Throughout  the  rugged  forests  roam ; 
For  this,  ye  gods  of  earth  and  air, 
Was  it  that  white  has  grown  my  hair  ? 
Tell  me,  was  it  for  this  that  I, 
Through  all  my  life  your  faithful  slave, 
Prostrate  in  dust  before  ye  lie. 
And  thousands  for  companions  have  ?  " 

THE  YOUNG  MAN 

"And  who  are  they  have  made  thee  fall  ?  " 

'  Yermfik  defeated  Kuchiim  Khan  in  1579;  Kuchiim  Khan  fell  into 
the  hands  of  Calmucks,  who  killed  him. 


Iv^n  Ivinovich  Dmitriev  433 

THS  OLD  MAN 

**  From  Russia  come  they,  one  and  all; 
Why  did  not  plague  and  famine  loom 
Upon  our  land  with  frightful  doom  ? 
Better  if  elemental  wrath 
Had  fall'n  in  fury  on  our  path, 
And  swallowed  up  Siberia's  fame, 
Than  bow  before  this  Ermdk's  name.'* 

THE  YOUNG  MAN 

*'  Of  Nature's  self  the  curse  and  blight. 
May  curses  heavy  on  him  light! 
Ye  streams,  and  mountains  old,  't  is  he 
Has  flung  upon  you  infamy!  " 

THK  OL,D  MAN 

"As  fiery  columns  passing  on, 

As  icy  blasts  the  land  vpon. 

All  fell  by  his  destructive  tread; 

Where'er  his  fatal  arrow  sped. 

There  life  grew  pale,  and  death's  dire  smart 

O'ertook  each  timid,  cowering  heart." 

THE  YOUNG  MAN 

*'  By  him  deprived  of  mortal  breath, 
Our  royal  brother  met  his  death." 

THE  OIvD  MAN 

"As  I  looked  on,  the  hero's  might 
Shone  forth  in  that  terrific  fight; 
'T  was  on  Muhammad-Kula's  *  plain — 
Such  fight  I  ne'er  shall  see  again. 
His  arrows  hurtling  in  swift  course, 
His  breast  enkindled  with  strange  force, 
He  drew  from  out  its  sheath  his  blade — 

1  The  translator  misunderstood  the  passage.     Mehmed-Kul  was  the 

King's  brother,  whom  Ermdk  made  prisoner  and  sent  to  John  the 

Terrible. 

VOL.   I.— a8. 


434  The  Eighteenth  Century 

'Rather  than  weary  life  give  death, 

Free  from  captivity,'  he  saith, 

And  fierce  assault  upon  Ermdk  he  made. 

Most  terrible  the  sight !  as  clash 

Their  swords,  the  lightnings  from  them  flash; 

Blow  fell  on  blow  with  frightful  sounds. 

They  give  and  they  receive  new  wounds. 

They  seize  each  other  in  their  rage, 

And  dreadful  combat  still  they  wage; 

Arm  against  arm — breast  against  breast — 

They  in  their  struggle  know  no  rest ; 

The  wild  woods  with  their  cries  resound, 

They  dig  up  with  their  feet  the  ground : 

From  brows  ran  down,  like  hail,  their  sweat, 

And  fearfully  their  bosoms  beat; 

Their  heads  incline  from  side  to  side, 

And  thus  they  grapple,  to  each  other  tied, 

Still  struggling  on;  until  the  weight 

Of  Ermdk  seals  his  foeman's  fate. 

'  The  victory 's  mine! ' — 't  is  thus  he  cries: 

*  The  land  before  me  subject  lies! '  " 

THE  YOUNG   MAN 

'  'Accomplished  is  the  prophecy, 
That  this  our  land  should  conquered  be. 
But  shall  the  oppressM  sigh  in  vain, 
And  never  more  to  freedom  rise  again  ?  " 

THE  OLD   MAN 

"Eternal  is  the  fatal  yoke: 

Usten,  my  son !    Late  yesternight 

Into  the  silent  woods  I  took 

My  way;  and  there,  while  rapturous  light 

Enkindled  all  my  inmost  soul, 

Burnt  sacrifice  I  offered  whole, 

And  to  the  gods  made  fervent  prayer 

That  they  would  to  our  aid  repair: 

When,  suddenly,  the  winds  arise, 


Ivin  Iv^novich  Dmitriev  435 

From  ofF  the  trees  the  fresh  leaves  fall, 

The  cedars  groan  with  creaking  cries, 

The  goats  away  are  scattered  all. 

Down  sank  I,  when,  above  the  noise 

Of  the  dire  storm,  I  heard  a  voice 

Thus  speaking:  '  Furious  war  does  wage 

Racha'  'gainst  sinners;  to  his  rage 

All  those  who  sin  devoted  are; 

Siberia  has  renounced  my  laws. 

And  righteous,  therefore,  is  the  cause 

Why  she  be  subject  to  the  fierce  White  Tsar.* 

By  morn  and  night  ye  shall  be  found 

Alike  in  heavy  fetters  bound ; 

But  Ermdk's  name  shall  never  fade, 

Nor  of  his  race  an  end  be  made; 

They  'neath  the  moon  shall  ever  be 

Eternal  in  their  majesty.' 

When  ceased  the  voice,  the  thunders  loud 

Rattled  from  out  each  stormy  cloud; 

On  us  has  fallen  Misfortune's  hand, 

Woe" 

THE  YOUNG  MAN 

"Woe  to  US,  and  our  land." 

Then,  while  they  yield  to  deepest  sighs. 
They  from  the  moss-strewn  stones  arise, 
And  while  their  arms  again  they  wear. 
Along  the  shore  they  disappear. 

Peace,  Ermak,  on  thine  ashes  rest! 
Thine  image  of  bright  silver  made. 
Which  in  Siberia's  mines  was  laid, 
Is  by  the  crown  of  Russia  prest. 
But  why  speak  I  with  hasty  zeal  ? 
What  do  my  foolish  words  reveal  ? 

'  God  of  the  Ostiaks. 

*  The  Tsar  of  Russia  ;  the  origin  of  the  appellation  is  not  certain. 


436  The  Eighteenth  Century 

We  do  not  even  know  the  place 

Where  rest  thy  bones  in  earth's  embrace. 

The  wild  beasts  trample  them  upon, 

Or  Ostiaks,  as  they  hurry  on, 

Chasing  the  antlered  stag,  and  roe, 

To  bring  them  by  their  arrows  low. 

But,  hero,  from  thine  anger  cease, 

And  let  thy  memory  know  peace ! 

Poetic  genius  every  day, 

When  golden  morning's  beauties  play, 

Shall  o'er  thy  corpse  still  float  along, 

And  greet  thee  with  triumphant  song. 

What  matters  it  in  any  case 

If  to  barbaric  times  we  trace 

Thy  birth  ?    Yet  thou  such  deeds  hast  done 

As  have  thy  land  victorious  shown. 

Although  thine  ashes  disappear, 

Though  e'en  thy  sons  no  likeness  bear 

To  thee,  but,  their  great  sire  forgetting, 

Their  livelihood  in  wild  woods  getting, 

They  dwell  the  wolves  and  bears  amid. 

Yet  never  shall  thy  name  be  hid. 

Thou  shalt  with  demigods  find  place. 

From  age  to  age,  from  race  to  race ; 

And  ne'er  shall  darken  thy  bright  ray 

Until  grows  dark  the  orb  of  day ; 

When  with  a  crash  the  heavens  fall. 

And  time  shall  cease  to  be,  and  ruin  cover  all. 

— From  C.  T.  Wilson's  Russian  Lyrics. 

WHAT  OTHERS  SAY 

"  How  strange  !  More  than  twenty  years  have  passed 
since  we,  with  mind  intent  and  furrowed  brow,  have  as- 
siduously been  writing  odes,  yet  we  nowhere  hear  praises 
sung  to  them  or  us!  May  it  be  that  Phoebus  has  sent  forth 
his  stern  decree  that  none  of  us  should  ever  aspire  to  equal 


Iv^n  Ivanovich  Dmitriev  437 

Flaccus,  Ramler  *  and  all  their  brotherhood,  or  ever  be  re- 
nowned as  they  in  song  ?  What  do  you  think  ?  I  took 
yesterday  the  pains  to  compare  their  song  and  ours:  in 
theirs,  there  is  not  much  to  read!  a  page;  if  much,  three 
pages,  and  yet  what  joy  to  read !  You  feel — how  shall  I  say 
it  ? — as  if  you  flew  on  wings!  Judging  by  their  briefness,  you 
are  sure  they  wrote  them  playfully,  and  not  labouring  four 
days:  then  why  should  we  not  be  more  fortunate  than  they, 
since  we  are  a  hundred  times  more  diligent  and  patient  ? 
When  one  of  us  begins  to  write,  he  leaves  all  play  aside, 
pores  a  whole  night  over  a  couple  of  verses,  sweats,  thinks, 
draws  and  burns  his  paper;  and  sometimes  he  rises  to  such 
daring  that  he  passes  a  whole  year  over  one  ode!  And,  of 
course,  he  uses  up  all  his  intelligence  upon  it !  And  there 
you  have  a  most  solemn  ode !  I  cannot  say  to  what  species 
it  belongs,  but  it  is  very  full, — some  two  hundred  strophes! 
Judge  for  yourself  how  many  fine  verses  there  are  in  it! 
Besides,  it  is  written  according  to  the  rules:  at  first  you 
read  the  introduction,  then  the  argument,  and  finally  the 
conclusion, —  precisely  as  the  learned  speak  in  the  church  I 
And  yet,  I  must  confess,  there  is  no  pleasure  in  reading  it. 

* '  Let  me  take,  for  example,  the  odes  on  victories,  how  that 
they  conquered  the  Crimea,  how  the  Swedes  were  drowned 
at  sea:  I  find  there  all  the  details  of  a  battle,  where  it  hap- 
pened, how,  when, — in  short,  a  report  in  verse!  Very  well! 
.  .  .  I  yawn !  I  throw  it  away,  and  open  another,  one 
written  for  a  holiday,  or  something  like  it :  here  you  discover 
things  that  a  less  clever  mind  would  not  have  thought  out 
within  a  lifetime:  *  Dawn's  rosy  fingers,'  and  *  lily  of  para- 
dise,' and  '  Phoebus,'  and  '  heaven  cleft  open  ' !  So  vocifer- 
ous, so  loud !  No,  it  does  not  please,  nor  move  our  hearts 
in  the  least." 

Thus  an  old  man  of  our  grandfathers'  times  spoke  yester- 
day to  me  in  gentle  simplicity.  I,  being  myself  a  companion 
of  those  singers,  the  action  of  whose  verse  he  so  marvelled 
at,  was  much  disturbed,  nor  knew  how  to  answer  him.     But 

'  A  German  poet  who  translated  the  odes  of  Horace  and  wrote  odes 
of  his  own. 


438  The  Eighteenth  Century 

luckily,  if  at  all  that  may  be  called  luck  to  hear  your  own 
terrible  sentence,  a  certain  Aristarch  began  to  speak  to  him. 

"  For  this,"  said  he,  "  there  are  many  causes;  I  will  not 
promise  to  unveil  one-half  of  them,  but  some  I  will  gladly 
expound  to  you.  I  myself  love  the  language  of  the  gods, 
poetry,  and  just  as  you,  am  little  edified  with  ours.  In 
Hformer  days  I  have  much  conversed  in  Moscow  with  our 
Pindars,  and  have  watched  them  well:  the  greater  part  of 
them  are  corporals  of  the  body-guard,  assessors,  ofl&cers, 
scribes,  or  dust-covered  guardians  of  monsters  in  the  Museum 
of  Antiquities, — all  of  them  busy  government  officials;  I 
have  often  noticed  that  they  barely  have  time  in  two  days 
or  three  to  make  a  proper  rhyme,  their  mind  being  all  taken 
up  with  their  affairs.  No  sooner  has  a  lucky  thought  struck 
them,  when,  lo,  the  clock  strikes  six !  The  carriage  is  wait- 
ing: 't  is  time  for  the  theatre,  and  then  to  the  ball,  or  to 
Lion,'  and  then  't  is  night.  .  .  .  When  are  they  to  call 
on  Apollo  ?  In  the  morning,  no  sooner  has  he  opened  his 
eyes,  than  there  is  a  note :  '  Rehearsal  at  five  o'clock '  .  .  . 
Where  ?  In  fashionable  society,  where  our  lyric  poet  is  to 
play  the  part  of  the  harlequin.  Is  there  any  time  left  for 
odes?  You  have  to  learny  our  parts,  then  to,Kroll,*  then 
home  again,  to  primp  yourself  and  get  dressed,  then  to  the 
theatre,  and  good-bye  another  day.  Besides,  the  ancients 
had  one  purpose,  we  another:  Horace,  for  example,  who 
nurtured  his  breast  with  ecstasy,  what  did  he  want  ?  Not 
very  much:  in  the  aeons  immortality,  and  in  Rome  but  a 
wreath  of  laurels  or  of  myrtle,  that  Delia  might  say :  '  He  is 
famous  ;  through  him  I,  too,  am  immortal !'  But  the  aim  of 
many  of  us  is  a  present  of  a  ring,  at  times  a  hundred  roubles, 
or  friendship  with  a  princelet  who  all  his  life  has  never  read 
anything  except  now  and  then  the  Court  almanac,  or  praises 
from  their  friends  to  whom  each  printed  sheet  appears  to  be 
sacred. 

' '  Considering  how  different  their  views  and  ours  are,  it  may 
safely  be  asserted,  without  offending  those  mettlesome  gentle- 

*  Master  of  masquerades  at  St.  Petersburg. 
'  St.  Petersburg  tailor. 


Ivin  Ivanovich  Dmitriev  439 

men,  the  alumni  of  the  Russian  Muses,  that  they  must  have 
some  especial  taste,  and  different  means,  and  a  special  man- 
ner in  the  composition  of  a  lyrical  poem;  what  they  are  I 
cannot  tell  you,  but  I  shall  announce  to  you — and,  truly,  I 
will  not  lie  about  it — what  a  certain  poet  thought  of  verses, 
of  whose  works  the  Mercury  and  the  Observer  *  and  the  book 
stores  and  the  stalls  are  full.  '  We  are  bom  into  this 
world,'  he  thought,  *  with  rhymes;  is  it  then  not  ridiculous 
for  us  poets  to  waste  our  time,  like  Demosthenes,  at  the  sea- 
shore in  a  cabin,  in  doing  nothing  but  reading  and  thinking, 
and  relating  what  we  have  thought  out  only  to  the  noisy 
waves  ?  Nature  makes  the  poet,  and  not  study :  he  is  with- 
out study  learned  when  he  becomes  enthused,  but  science 
will  always  remain  science,  and  not  a  gift;  the  only  neces- 
sary equipments  are  boldness,  rhymes  and  ardour.' 

**  And  this  is  the  way  the  natural  poet  wrote  an  ode:  barely 
has  the  thunder  of  the  cannon  given  the  nation  the  pleasant 
news  that  the  Rymnikski  Alcides  *  has  vanquished  the  Poles, 
or  that  Ferzen  has  taken  their  chief,  Kosciuszko,  captive,  he 
immediately  grabs  the  pen,  and,  behold,  the  word  '  ode '  is 
already  on  the  paper."  Then  follows  in  one  strain:  "  *  On 
such  a  day  and  year!'  How  now?  'I  sing!'  Oh  no, 
that 's  old!  Were  it  not  better:  '  Grant  me,  O  Phoebus?' 
Or,  better  still:  *  Not  you  alone  are  trod  under  heel,  O 
turban-wearing  horde ! '  But  what  shall  I  rhyme  with  it 
but  *  snored,'  or  *  bored '  ?  No,  no!  it  will  not  do!  I  had 
better  take  a  walk,  and  refresh  myself  with  a  whiff  of  air." 

He  went,  and  thus  he  meditated  on  his  walk:  "  The  be- 
ginning never  daunts  the  singers:  you  simply  say  what  first 
occurs  to  you.  The  trouble  only  begins  when  you  have  to 
praise  the  hero.  I  know  not  with  whom  to  compare  him ; 
with  Rumydntsev,  with  Greyg  or  with  Orl6v?  What  a 
pity  I  have  not  read  the  ancients!  For  it  does  not  seem 
proper  to  compare  to  the  moderns.  Well,  I  '11  simply  write: 
'Rejoice,  hero,  rejoice,  O  thou! '  That 's  good!  But  what 
now?  Ah,  now  comes  the  ecstasy!  I  '11  say:  'Who  has 
rent  the  veil  of  eternity  for  me !     I  see  the  gleam  of  light- 

•  Magazines.  '  Suv6rov. 


440  The  Eighteenth  Century 

ning!  From  the  upper  world  I  hear,  and  so  on.'  And 
then?  Of  course:  'Many  a  year!'  Most  excellent!  I 
have  caught  the  plan,  and  thoughts,  and  all!  Hail  to  the 
poet!  All  I  have  to  do  now,  is  to  sit  down  and  write,  and 
boldly  print ! ' '  He  hurries  to  his  garret,  scribbles,  and  the 
deed  is  done!  And  his  ode  is  printed,  and  already  they 
wrap  shoeblacking  in  his  ode.  Thus  has  he  Pindarised, 
and  all  his  ilk  who  are  scarcely  capable  to  write  a  proper 
shop  sign !  "I  wish  Phoebus  would  tell  them  in  their  dream : 
'  He  who  in  Catherine's  loud  age  of  glory  cannot  by  his 
eulogy  move  the  hearts  of  others,  nor  water  his  sweet  lyre 
with  tears,  let  him  throw  it  away,  break  it  and  know  he  is 
not  apoetP  " 

BND  OF  PART  I. 


INDEX 


Ablesimov,  A.  O.,  his  comic 
opera,  36;  biographical  sketch 
and  extract,  370  seq. 

Academy  founded,  316  seq, 

Achronism,  of  Russ.  literature, 
9;  of  legends,  14 

Addison's  influence  on  Russ.  lit- 
erature, 30  seq.,  291,  327 

Alexander  the  Great  in  legend, 

14 
Alexander  I.,  304  seq.,  378 
Alexis  Mikhdylovich,  school  es- 
tablished during  his  reign,  17; 
and  the  theatre,  26;  and  see  35 
All  Kinds  of  Things,  272,  326 
American  interest  in  Russ.  litera- 
ture, vii.  seq. 
Anaqreon,  translated,  224 
Andover,  see  Biblical  Repository 
Anglo-Russian  Literary  Society's 

studies  in  Russ.  literature,  x. 
Anthologies  of  Russ.  literatiire, 

viii.,  X. 
Apocrypha,  12  seq.;  legends,  114 

seq.;  stories,  152  seq, 
Aprakos,  11 
Apuleius,  33,  358,  374 
Athenaeum,    yearly    reports     on 
Rnss.  literature,  xi. 

Bain,  R.  N.,  translation  of  fairy 

tales,  189 
Baldwin,  Prince,  and  Daniel  the 

Abbot,  57  seq. 
Barlaam  and  Josaphat,  14 
Bdt^ushkov,      395 ;     translated, 

viii. 
Bazdn,  E.  P.,  on  Russ.  literature, 

X. 

Beccaria,  30 

Bee,  The,  Russ.  literary  collec- 
tion, 100;  English  periodical, 
272 

Beggar-songs,  178,  186  seq. 


Benfey's  theory,  20 

Bible,  its  influence  on  early  Rnss. 
literature,  8;  in  Russian,  11; 
in  historical  literature,  15 ; 
quoted  in  literature,  100  seq,; 
and  Ivdn  the  Terrible,  121 

Biblical  Repository,  The,  of  An- 
dover, on  Russ.  literature,  ix. 

Bogdan6vich,  I.  F.,  at  Court,  31 ; 
his  Psyche,  34,  263 ;  first  col- 
lector of  proverbs,  199;  bio- 
graphical sketch  and  extracts, 
374  seq. 

Bohemia,  its  political  status,  3; 
its  ancient  literature,  4 

Boileau's  influence  on  Russ.  lit- 
erature, 29,  30,  230 

Borrow,  G.,  translations  from  the 
Russian,  viii. 

Bowl-songs,  178,  179 

Bowring,  Sir  John,  his  transla- 
tions from  the  Russian,  vii., 
178,  242,  291,  306,  379,  392,  395, 
398,  422, 429;  his  imitators,  viii. 

Boydn,  22,  81 

Boydr,  46  (note) 

Bradford,  Mrs.  W.,  editor  of  Prin- 
cess Ddshkov's  Memoirs,  316 

Brandes,  G.,  on  Russ.  literature, 

X. 

Brockes,  378 

Bulgaria,  its  political  status,  3; 
its  ancient  literature,  4 ;  its  lan- 
guage in  the  Church,  6 ;  in 
Russia,  7 ;  apocrypha  travelling 
over,  13 ;  its  legends,  14 

Bylinas,  of  Vladimir's  cycle,  9 
seq.;  their  development,  21; 
their  relation  to  the  Word,  22 

Byzantium's  influence  on  Russia, 
5 ;  Greek  tradition,  8 ;  apocry- 
pha in  Russia,  13  ;  legends,  14; 
repression,  22 ;  chronogpraph- 
ers,  65 


441 


442 


Index 


Calilah-wa-Dimnah,  14 

Catherine  II.,  and  French  litera- 
ture, 29 ;  and  comedy,  36 ;  bio- 
graphical sketch  and  extracts, 
405  seq.,  and  see  28  et  passim 

Catholic,  contamination,  5 ;  re- 
ligion in  Russia,  134 

Ceremonial  songs,  24 

Chanson  de  Roland,  80 

Charms,  178,  188  5<?^. 

Child,  Prof.  F.  J.,  20,  163 

Christianity,  its  influence  on  Rns- 
sia,  4  seq. 

Chronicles,  15 

Chrysostom  in  Rnss.  literature, 
II,  116 

Church,  its  opposition  to  popular 
literature,  16,  19,  23,  24;  its 
contact  with  the  West,  17;  its 
reform,  212  seq.,  219;  union  of 
Churches,  17,  135  seq. 

Church  fathers,  their  influence  on 
Russ.  literature,  8 ;  and  Ivin 
the  Terrible,  121 

Church-Slavic,  its  relation  to  Bul- 
garian, 7 ;  and  see  Bulgaria 

City  songs,  24  seq. 

Collections,  literary,  11  seq.;  of 
Svyatosldv,  11 

Comedy,  36,  21 1,  272  seq.,  308, 
311  seq.,  342  seq.y  370  seq.,  397 
seq. 

Constantinople,  in  pilgrimages, 
14 ;  and  see  Byzantium 

Cox,  G.,  on  Russ.  literature, 
vs.. 

Coxe,  W.,  account  of  Russ.  litera- 
ture, vii. 

Cnrtin,  J.,  on  fairy  tales,  189 

Cyril  of  Ttirov,  his  sermons,  11, 
62  seq. 

Cyril  and  Methodius,  preaching 
in  Bulgarian,  6 

Dai's  proverbs,  199 
d'Alembert,  29,  272 
Daniel  the  Abbot,  his  feeling  of 

Russ.  unity,  3 ;  his  pilgrimage, 

14;  extract,  56  seq. 
Daniel  the  Prisoner,  100  seq. 
Danilov,  Kirsha,  163 
Danilov,  M.  V.,  extract  from  his 

Memoirs,  269  seq. 
Dante,  in   Servian  literature,  4: 

his  Divine  Comedy,  13,  96 


Ddshkov,  Princess,  308;  bio- 
graphical sketch  and  extract, 
316  seq. 

Demetrius  the  Impostor,  Sumar6- 
kov's,  translated  into  English, 

255 
Derzhdvin,  G.  R.,  at  Court,  31; 
his    lyrics,     34 ;     biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  377  seq., 
and  see  33,  241,  272,  358  seq., 

405 
Destouches,  308 
Diderot    and    Russ.   educational 

system,  29 ;  and  see  272,  316 
Dietrich,  A.,  Russ.  fairy  tales,  189 
Digenis  Akritas,  14 
Dmitriev,  I.  I.,  his  odes,  33;  his 

lyrics,  34;  biographical  sketch 

and  extracts,  428  seq. 
Dole,  N.  H.,  his  translations  from 

the  Russian,  x.,  50,  379 
Dolgoriiki,   I.    M.,    biographical 

sketch  and  extracts,  422  seq. 
Dolgorfiki,  Princess,  biographical 

sketch  and  extract,  233  seq. 
Domostrby,  12,  126  seq.,  219 
"  Double  faith,"  16,  19 
Drama,  35  seq.,  150,  254  seq.,  308 

seq.,  418;  and  see  Comedy 
Drone,  The,  327 
Druzhlna,  46  (note) 
Dupuy,  £.,  on  Russ.  literature,  x. 

Eastern  Church   separated  from 

Rome,  6 
Eastman,    S.    C,    translator    of 

Brandes,  x. 
"Ecstatic"  poetry,  33 
Edmands,    J.    L.,    translator    of 

Vogii^,  X. 
Edwards,  S.,  on  Russ.  literature, 

ix.,  306 
Elizabeth,  Queen,  appealed  to  by 

King  Sigismund,  5 
Emerald,  The,  11,  100 
6min,  F.,  327 
Encyclopedias  on  Rnss.  literature, 

xi. 
English,  interest  in  Russ.  litera- 
ture,    vii.    seq.;   influence    on 

Russ.   literature,    30,    36,   291 ; 

Masons  in  Russia,  32 
Englishmen,     in     Moscow,     26; 

speaking  Russian,  vii.;  reading 

Plat6n*s  theology,  300 


Index 


443 


Ermdk,  372  seq.,  431  seq. 
Esop's  fables  in  Russian,  34 
Esprit  des  Lois,  in  Russia,  29 
Busebius,  116 

F.,   J.  G.  A.,    translation    from 

Ivomon6sov,  242 
Fables,  34  seq. 
Fairy  tales,  25  seq.y  189  seq. 
Felitsa,  3,  33,  241,  272,  358  seq. 
Feofdn,  biographical  sketch  and 

extracts,  211  seq.;  and  see  12, 

28,  219,  224,  233,  300 
Folklore,  18  J*?^./ bridging  chasm, 

20;  connected  with  that  of  Eu- 
rope and  Asia,  21 
Folksongs,  ix.,  177  seq. 
Folktales,  ix. 
Fon-Vizin,    D.    I.,    biographical 

sketch  and  extracts,  341  seq.; 

and  see  31,  36,  269 
Foreign    Quarterly    Review    on 

Russ.  literature,  viii. 
Foreigners  in  Moscow,  26 
Formalism  of  Russian  life,  12 
Franklin,  361 
Eraser's    Magazine,    Turner    on 

Russ.  literature,  224,  242,  272, 

^379,  429  . 

rree  Russia,  translations  from 
Russian,  x. 

French  influence  on  Russ.  litera- 
ture, 29  seq.,  34,  230 

Gardiner,  F.  H.,  translation  of 
Bazdn,  X. 

Gaussen,  W.  F.  A.,  on  Russ.  lit- 
erature,  x. 

Gellert,  in  Russian,  34,  306 

Geography  in  ancient  Russ.  lit- 
erature, 189 

German  Suburb,  26 

Gilferding,  163 

Gillies,  R.  P.,  on  Russ.  litera- 
ture, viii. 

G6gol,  35,  36,  397 

Golden  Beam,  The,  11 

Golden  Chain,  The,  11 

Grahame,  F.  R.,  ix.,  242,  306,  398 

Great-Russians  of  the  South,  9, 
10 ;  exterminated  by  Tartars,  23 

Grech,  on  Russ.  literature,  viii. 

Greek  traditions  in  Byzantium,  8; 
taught  in  Russia,  17 ;  treaties 
with  the  Greeks,  4 


Grib6vski,  A.  M.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  405  seq. 

Griboy^dov,  36,  397 

Grimm's  mythological  theory,  20 

Griswold,  M.  W.,  bibliography  of 
Russ.  literature,  x. 

Giinther,  29 

Gunduli^,  his  epic,  4 

Hakluyt  Society,  translation    of 

Nikitin,  iii 
Haller,  378 
Hamartolos,  15 
Hansa,  21 
Hapgood,  Miss  I.  F.,  translator 

of  epic  songs,  163 
Heard,  J.  A.,  233 
HeWs  Post,  327 

Henningsen,  C.  F.,  on  Russ.  lit- 
erature, ix. 
Herzen,  272,  287 
Historical  songs,  23,  172 
History  in  Russ.  literature,  15,  36 

seq.,  219  seq. 
Hodgetts,  E.  M.  S.,  translation 

of  fairy  tales,  189 
Holy  Land,  visited  by  Russians, 

8,  56  seq. 
Holy  Virgin'' s  Descent  into  Hell, 

The,  96  seq. 
Homer,  a  Russian,  298 
Horace,   in  Russ.  literature,  34, 

397 
Humour,  in  translation,  x. 

Igor,  see  Word  of  Igor's  Arma- 
ment 

Ilari6n,  eulogy  of  Vladimir,  n, 
48  seq. 

Ilyd  of  M6rom,  165  seq.;  known 
to  the  West,  9,  24 

Index  librorum  prohibitorum,  13 

Instructions  in  literature,  12 ; 
Catherine's,  30;  Vladimir's,  il, 
50  seq.;  Tatishchev's,  219 

Ipdti  manuscript,  71 

Isidor,  at  Council  of  Florence,  15, 

17 
Ist6min,  Kari6n,  26 
Ivdn  the  Terrible,  17,  23,  26,  115 

seq.,  121  seq.,  126,  172  seq. 

Jacob,  gospel  of,  13 
James,     Richard,     collector     of 
songs,  vii.,  23,  130  seq. 


444 


Index 


Johnson's  Cyclopedia,  on  Russ. 

literature,  xi. 
Journey  to  Europe  in  literature, 

15 

Kdmenev,  G.  P.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  411  seq. 

Kantemir,  A. .biographical  sketch 
and  extract.  223  seq.;  and  see 
26,28,  35,  2" 

Kapuist,  V.  v.,  his  lyrics.  34; 
biographical  sketch  and  ex- 
tracts, 397  seq. 

Karamzin,  34,  36, 255, 395,418, 428 

Kh^mnitser,  I.  I.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  300  seq.; 
and  see  34 

Kherdskov,  M.  M.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  298  seq.; 
and  see  33 

Khorov6d,  178 

Kiev,  metropolis  of  Russia,  9;  its 
poetic  tradition,  10;  has  no  by- 
linas,  22;  chronicle,  15,  ^lseq., 
80;  cycle,  24,  163;  its  contact 
with  Poland,  6,  12,  33;  clergy 
and  scholasticism,  26;  interme- 
diary of  Western  culture,  17 

Kiry^evski,  163 

Klopstock,  378 

Knyazhnin,  Y.  B.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  308  seq.; 
and  see  30,  36,  316 

Kolyidas,  177  seq. 

Kostr6v,  E.  I.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  358  seq.; 
and  see  31 

Kotoshikhin,  G.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  136  seq.; 
and  see  18,  178 

Kozitski,  G.,  326 

Kozl6v,  233 

Krehbiel,  H.E.,  on  popular  songs, 
178 

Krizhdnich,  Y.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  134  seq.; 
and  see  15 

Kryl6v,34, 306,429;  translated,  ix. 

K^rbski,  A.  M.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  115  seq.; 
and  see  15,  18 

La  Fontaine,  in  Russ.  literature, 

34,  306,  374 
Lamentations,  178,  187 


Language,  under  Peter  I..  27 
Latin,  in  the  Western  Church,  6 

seq.;  taught  in  Russia,  17;  trans- 
lations from,  150 
Latins,  hatred  of.  6,  17 
Laurentian  manuscript,  65 
Legends,    in   ancient   Russia,   8; 

apocryphal,  12  seq.;  profane,  14 

seq. 
Lewis,    W.    D..    his  translations 

from  the  Russian,  viii.,  379,  392, 

429 
Liberation  of  the  serfs,  361 
Lineff,    Mrs.    E.,  translations  of 

popular  songs.  178 
Literary  cotenes,  32 
Literature,  in  Russia,   of  recent 

frowth,  3  seq.;  rarely  pro- 
uced  outside  the  Church,  12; 
in  Slavic  countries,  3  seq. 

Little-Russians,  their  character- 
istics, 9;  whence  come,  10 

Lomon6sov,  M.  V.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  241  seq.; 
and  see  28,  29,  33.  150,  378,  429 

Love  songs,  178,  179  seq. 

Lowell  lectures  on  Russ.  litera- 
ture, X. 

Lucidarius  in  Russia,  8 

Ludolf,  author  of  first  Russ.  gram- 
mar, vii. 

Lukd  Zhidydta,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  44  seq.;  his 
style,  9 

Lyncs,  in  Russ.  literature,  34 

Maksim  the  Greek,  116 
Malalas,  source  of  history,  15 
Marlowe's  Tamerlane  in  Russian, 

26 
Martinists,  32,  361 
Martinof,  J.,  translator  of  TatJ- 

shchev,  219 
Masons  and  Russ.  literature,  32, 

272,  327 
Mdykov,     V.     I.,     biographical 

sketch  and  extracts,  263  seq.; 

and  see  34,  374 
Medvy^dev,  18 
Meshch^rski,  Prince,  375  seq. 
Metastasio  imitated.  308 
Milton's    Paradise    Lost    trans- 
lated, 291 
Modem    Language    Association, 

on  fairy  tales,  189 


Index 


445 


Molidre  in  Russia,  26 
Montesquieu,  29,  30,  272 
More,  Sir  Thomas,  287 
MorfiU,  W.  R.,  translations  from 

the  Russian,  ix.,  x.,  130,  172 
Moscow,  as  a  pohtical  centre,  3, 

10;    chronicles,   15;  its  foreign 

colony,  17;   influenced  by  the 

West,  17,  26,33;  cycle  of  songs, 

24;  et  passitn 
Mozharovski's  stories  of  the  Fox, 

26,  198  seq. 
Munro,  H.  H.,  translator  of  the 

Word,  81 
Murav6v,  M.  N.,  395  seq. 
Mdsin-Pfishkin,  A.  I.,  discoverer 

of  the  IVord,  81 
Mysteries  and  Moralities,  35 
Mythological  theory  of  folklore,  20 

Naake,  J.  T.,  translations  of  fairj- 
tales,  189 

Nekrdsov,  233 

Neledinski-Mel€tski,  Y.  A.,  his 
lyrics,  34;  biographical  sketch 
and  extracts,  392  seq. 

Nestor,  his  style,  9;  his  chronicle, 
15,  41  seq.,  50  seq.,  65  seq.,  71 
seq.;  its  discovery,  81 

New  Testament  apocrypha  in 
Russ.  literature,  13 

Nibelungenlied,  80 

Nicodemus,  gospel  of,  13 

Nikitin,  Afandsi,  his  Travel  to 
India,  15,  11 1  seq. 

Nik6n's  corrections,  12 

Norse,  influence  in  ancient  Rus- 
sia, 4;  tradition  in  Kiev,  9; 
acquaintance  with  Ilyd  of  Mfi- 
rom,  21,  24;  laws,  45 

Novels,  36 

N6vgorod,  its  relations  with  Ger- 
many,2i;  cycleof songs, 24, 163; 
its  laconic  style,  9,  44  seq.;  its 
chronicles,  15;  Domostroy,  126 

N6vikov,  N.  I.,  imprisoned,  30; 
and  Catherine,  31  seq.;  and  the 
Masons,  32;  his  satires,  35;  his 
historical  investigations,  36; 
biographical  sketch  and  ex- 
tracts, 326  seq. 

Odes,  33;  and  ^^^  Ecstatic  poetry 
Odo^vski,  362 
Ogar^v,  362 


Old     Testament    apocrypha    in 

Russ.  literature,  13 
016netsk,  bylmas,  10,  22 
Opera,  370  seq. 
Ossian,   in  Russ.  literature,  358, 

418 
Otto,  F.,  see  Cox,  G. 
Ovid,  in  Russian,  27 
Ovsdn,  177 

Oxford,  publishingthe  first  Russ. 
^  grammar,  vii. 
Ozerov,  V.  A.,  and  the  tragedy, 

36;    biographical    sketch    and 

extract,  418  seq. 

Painter,  The,  32,  327 

Palcea,  11,  13 

Palestine,  legends  brought  from, 

14;  and  see  Holy  Land 
Panin,  I.,  on  Russ.  literatitfe,  x, 

355 

Panslavism,  Krizhdnich's,  135 

Paul,  Emperor,  321,  328 

People,  meaning  of  this  term,  18 
seq. 

Periodicals,  satirical,  326  seq. 

Peter  the  Great,  ode  on  his  birth, 
150  seq.;  and  the  Slavophiles, 
4;  songs  dealing  with,  23;  and 
progress,  265^^./ Shcherbdtov's 
censures  of,  288  seq.;  funeral 
sermon  on,  214;  and  see  12,  16, 
18,  19,  28,  32,  35,  211,  212,  324 

Petrarch  in  Servian  literature,  4 

Petr6v,  V.  P.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  291 ;  and 
see  31,  33 

Philipps,  J.  T.,  translation  of 
Feofdu's  work,  211 

Physiologus  in  Russia,  8 

Pilgrimages,  14  seq.,  ^Sseq. 

Pinkerton,  R.,  translation  of  Pla- 
t6n ,  300  ;  on  Russ.  proverbs,  200 

Plat6n  Ivevshln,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  300  seq. ; 
and  see  12,  328 

Poetry,  Russian,  in  English  trans- 
lation, viii.,  X. 

Poland,  its  political  status,  3  ;  its 
ancient  literature,  4 ;  a  barrier 
to  Russia,  5  ;  and  Kiev,  12,  17  ; 
intermediary  in  folklore,  21  ; 
its  scholasticism  and  rhetoric 
in  Russia,  26;  its  influence  on 
Russ.  literature,  33 


446 


Index 


Political  Economy,  Pososhk6v's, 

205 
Pollen,  J.,  translations  from  the 

Russian,  x.,  379 
Poroshin,     S.     A.,    biographical 

sketch  and  extract,  321  seq. 
Pososhk6v,    I.   T.,     biographical 

sketch  and  extracts,  205  seq.  ; 

his  diction,  vi.,  28 
Potdnin's  theory,  21 
Prokop6vich,  see  Feof&n 
Pronunciation  of  Russian,  vi.,  vii. 
Prose   story  in   Russ.   literature, 

25  seq.,  36 
Proverbs,  vj^seq. 
Pseudo-classic  style,  29,  378 
Pugach^v's  rebellion,  30 
Purse,  The,  327 

Pushkin,  in  translation,  viii.  ;  re- 
viewed, ix.;  and  see  34,   255, 


p/. 


1%  4" 

pin's  works,  vi. 


Quarterly  Review,  p>opular  songs, 
178 ;  fairy  tales,  189  ;  proverbs, 
ioo 

Racine,  and  Russ.  literature,  36 

Radishchev,  A.  N.,  and  English 
writers,  36 ;  biographical  sketch 
and  extract,  361  seq.\  and  see 
30,  32,  272,  327 

Ragusa,  its  literature,  4 

Ralston,  W.  R.  S.,  studies  in 
Russ.  literature,  ix.  ;  popular 
songs,  178  ;   fairy  tales,  189 

Rambler,  The,  327 

Reform,  beginning  of,  in  Russia, 
17  seq. 

Religious  lore,  11  seq. 

Robinson,  Dr.  Ed.,  see  Talvi 

Romanists,  see  Latins 

Romantic  Movement,  3,  25 

Rosicrucians,  32 

Rousseau,  272 

Russia,  rediscovered  by  the  Eng- 
lish, vii.  ;  its  political  greatness, 
3 ;  menace  to  Europe,  5  ;  its 
aloofness,  5  seq.;  its  unprogres- 
siveness,  6,  8,  20;  its  history, 
by  Shcherbdtov,  287 

Russian  Code,  4,  45 

Russian  language,  in  America, 
v. ;  supplanted  by  Bulgarian,  7  ; 
its  composition,   7 ;    perfected 


by  Lomon6sov,  241  ;  first  gram- 
mar of,  vii. 

Russian  literature,  not  all  acces> 
sible  to  English  readers,  v. ; 
English  works  on,  ix. 

Rybnikov,  163 

Ryly^ev,  viii.,  233,  362 

S.,  J.  T.,  translation  of  Brief 
Theology,  300 

Sadk6  the  Merchant,  in  French, 
21 

St.  Petersburg  Gazette,  327 

Satire,  35 

Satirical  journals,  31,  326  seq. 

Saunders,  W.  H.,  translation 
from  the  Russian,  viii. 

Sentimentalism,  Karamzin,  and, 
36 

Serapi6n,  his  style,  9,  11  ;  bio- 
graphical sketch  and  extract, 
104  seq. 

Sermons,  in  Russ.  literature,  ir; 
and  see  44  seq.,  62  seq.,  104 seq., 
300 

Servia,  its  political  status,  3  ;  its 
ancient  literature,  4  ;  its  leg- 
ends, 14 

Shaw,  T.  B.,  translations  from 
the  Russian,  viii. 

Shchedrin,  35 

Shcherbdtov,  M.  M.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract,  287  5^^./  and 
see  33,  36,  327 

Shibdnov,  115 

Shuvdlov,  I,omon6sov's  letters 
to,  241  seq. 

Sigismund's  appeal  to  Queen 
Elizabeth,  5 

Sime6n  of  Bulgaria,  11 

Sime6n  P61otski,  biographical 
sketch  and  extracts,  149  seq.; 
and  see  18,  26,  34 

Slavic,  idea,  4;  languages  in  ninth 
century,  6;  language  of  re- 
ligion, 6;  language,  Krizhd- 
nich's,  134;  nations,  weakness 
of,  3;  scholarship  in  America, 
ix. ;  sources  of  apocrypha,  13 

Slavophiles,  4,  37,  327 

Solomon,  in  Russ.  literature,  13, 
114 

Sophia  and  the  theatre,  26 

Spectator,  The,  31,  327 

spiritual  Testaments,  12,  219 


Index 


447 


Spiritual  Ree^lement,  211 

Spring  songs,  178 

Stallybrass,  J.  K.,  translation  of 
Ode  to  Deity,  379 

Stanley,  A.  P.,  translation  of 
Vladimir's  Instruction,  50 

Stanley,  Dr.,  on  Plat6n,  300 

Stdsov's  theory,  21 

Sterne  in  Russ.  literature,  36,  361 

Sumar6kov,  A.  P.,  and  the  drama, 
28;  his  odes,  33;  his  fables,  34; 
and  the  theatre,  36;  biographi- 
cal sketch  and  extracts,  2^^seq.; 
and  see  306,  308,  326,  327,  378 

Slizdal  chronicle,  15 

Svyatosldv's  Collection,  11,  12; 
his  glory  sung,  23 

Sylvester's  Dotnostrby,  12,  65, 
115.  219 

Sylvester,  see  Nistor 

Talmud,  legends,  12,  114 

Talvi,  on  Slavic  literature,  ix.; 
translations  of  historical  songs, 
172;  and  see  178 

Tartars,  not  alone  to  be  blamed 
for  stagnation,  10;  exterminat- 
ing the  Great-Russians  of  the 
South,  10,  23;  in  bjrlinas,  22;  in 
sermon,  104  ^^^-.z  in  songs,  172 

Tasso,  298 

Tatishchev,  V.  N.,  biographical 
sketch  and  extract, 218  5<?^./  and 
see  15,  26,  36,  211 

Tatter,  The,  31,  327 

Testaments,  50,  205;  and  see  Spir- 
itual Testaments 

Theatre,  early,  in  Russia,  26; 
founded,  255 

Thomas,  gospel  of,  13 

Tragedy,  35;  and  see  Drama 

Translations,  from  the  Russian, 
v.;  author's,  vi. 

Transliterations  from  Russian,  vi, 

Tredyak6vski,  V.  K.,  biographi- 
cal sketch  and  extract,  230  seq.; 
and  see  28,  33,  150,  254,  378 

Trojan  war,  in  legend,  14 

Turg^nev,  36 


Turner,  C.  E.,  on  Russ.  litera- 
ture, X.,  224,  242,  272,  379 

Unity  of  Russia,  as  an  idea,  3 

University  press,  327 

Vladimir,  his  baptism,  65  seq.; 
eulogy  on,  48  seq.;  cycle,  9,  22, 
24,  163 

Vladimir  Monomdkh's  Instruc- 
tion, II,  12,  50  seq.,  219 

Varydg,  see  Norse 

Vergil,  298 

Versailles  manners  in  Russia,  28 

Vogii6,  E.  M.  de,  on  Russ.  litera- 
ture, X. 

Volhynia  chronicle,  15 

Voltaire,  29,  30,  316 

Voltairism,  30,  327 

Voynich,  E.  L.,  translation  of 
Russ.  humour,  x. 

Wahl,  O.  W,,  on  Russ.  litera- 
ture, ix. 

Waliszewski,  K.,  on  Russ.  litera- 
ture, X. 

Wedding  songs,  178,  185  seq. 

Westminster  Review,  Russ.  liter- 
ary biography,  viii.;  on  Russ. 
literature,  viii.,  x. 

Wielhorsky,  Count,  translation  of 
Nikitin,  iii  seq. 

Wilson,  C.  T.,  translations  from 
the  Russian,  x.,  429 

Wolkonsky,  Prince,  on  Russ.  lit- 
erature, v.,  X. 

Word  0/  Igor's  Armament,  The, 
80  seq.;  prose  version,  71  seq.; 
and  see  vi.,  3,  9,  16,  22,  106  seq., 
152 

Yarosldv's  Code,  4,  9,  45  seq. 

Yav6rski,  Stefdn,  28 

Yermdk,  given  on  p.  172  seq.  by 

oversight  for  Erm&k,  q.  v. 
Young's  Night  Thoughts,  378 

Zad6nshchina,  16,  80,  106  seq. 
Zhuk6vski,  25  seq. 


WORKS  IN  LITERATURE 

THE  LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  AMERICAN 
REVOLUTION. 

B7  Moses  Coit  Tvlkr,  Professor  of  American  History,  Cornell  University. 
Two  volumes,  sold  separately.     8°,  each,    .....        $3.00 
Volume  I.,  1763-1776  ;  Volume  II.,  1776-1783. 

"  Professor  Tyler's  newest  work  is  rich,  stimulating,  informing,  and  delif^htful.  And  it  is 
not  only  fascinating,  itself,  but  it  is  a  luminous  guide  into  the  whole  abundant,  varied,  and 
alluring  field  of  our  revolutionary  literature  :  poetry,  belles-lettres,  biography,  history,  travd 
and  crackling  controversy." — George  W.  Cable  in  Current  Literature. 

A  HISTORY  OF  AMERICAN  LITERATURE  DURING 
THE  COLONIAL  TIME. 

By  Moses  Coit  Tyler,  New  edition,  revised.     Two  volumes,  sold  separately. 

8°,  each, $3.SO 

Volume  I.,  1607-1676  ;  Volume  II,,  1676-1765. 

Agawam  edition,  2  vols,  in  one,  8°,  half  leather        ....        $3.00 

THE  LITERARY  MOVEMENT  IN  FRANCE  DURING 
THE  NINETEENTH  CENTURY. 

By  Georges  Pellissier.     Authorized  English' version  by  Anne  G.  Brinton, 
together  with  a  General  Introduction.     8°  . 

The  eminent  French  critic  M.  Ferdinand  Brunetiire  says  of  this :  "  M.  Pellissier's  work  is 
no  less  the  picture  than  the  history  of  contemporary  literature.  In  addition,  it  is  also  the 
philosophy  of,  or  rather  describes,  the  evolution  of  the  literary  movement  of  our  country." 

PHILOSOPHY  OF   ENGLJSH   LITERATURE. 

A  course  of  lectures  delivered  in  the  Lowell  Institute,   Boston.     By  JOHN 
Bascom,  author  of  "  Problems  of  Philosophy,"  etc.      8°,  pp.  xii.  -|-  318, 

$1.50 

STUDIES  IN  GERMAN  LITERATURE. 
Edited  by  Marie  Taylor.    8°,  pp.  viii.  +  421        .        .        .        .       $2  00 

"  The  work  of  a  painstaking  scholar,  who  can  select  with  rare  discernment  what  should  com* 
to  the  foreground  of  attention,  and  who  has  the  power  of  expressing  his  own  views  with  «»• 
ceptional  grace." — Literary  World. 

THE   HISTORY  OF  FRENCH   LITERATURE. 
I.  From  its  Origin  to  the  Renaissance. 

II.  From  the  Renaissance  to  the  Close  of  the  Reign  of  Louis  XIV. 
III.  From  the  Reign  of  Louis  XIV.  to  that  of  Napoleon  III. 
By  Henry  Van  Laun.     Three  vols,  in  one.     Half  leather,  cloth  sides,  8*, 
pp.  342,  392,  467 I3.50 

"  It  is  full  of  keenest  interest  for  every  person  who  knows  or  wishes  to  learn  any  thing  of 
French  literature,  or  of  French  literary  history  and  biography — scarcely  any  book  of  recent 
origin,  indeed,  is  better  fitted  than  this  to  win  general  favor  with  all  classes  of  persons." — 
N.  Y.  Evening  Post. 

AMERICAN   LITERATURE,  1607-1885. 

By  Prof.  Charles  F.  Richardson,  of  Dartmouth  College.     Two  vols.,  8*, 

pp.  XX.  -f  535,  456 I6.00 

Popular  edition.      Two  vols,  in  one,  half  bound,  8°,  pp.  xx.  -|"  99^.  $3-50 
Part  I. — The  Development  of  American  Thought. 
Part  II. — American  Poetry  and  Fiction. 

"  It  is  acute,  intelligent,  and  original,  showing  true  criticml  instiiict  and  a  U^  ord«r  of 
literary  culture.  — Indianapolis  Journal. 

G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS.  New  York  and  London. 


WORKS  IN  LITERATURE. 


THE  LITERARY  MOVEMENT  IN  FRANCE    DURING 
THE  NINETEENTH  QENTURY. 

By  Georges  Pellissier.  Authorized  English  version  by  Anne  G.  Brinton, 
together  with  a  General  Introduction.     8°,  pp.  479    ...        $3  50 

The  eminent  French  critic,_M.  Ferdinand  Brunetiere  says  of  this:  "  M.  Pellissier's  work  ia 
BO  less  the  picture  than  the  history  of  contemporary  French  literature.  In  addition,  it  is  also 
the  philosophy  of,  or  rather  describes,  the  evolution  of  the  literary  movement  of  our  country." 

AMERICAN  LITERATURE,  1607-1885. 

By  Prof.  Charles  F.  Richardson,  of  Dartmouth  College.     Two  vols.,  8*, 

pp.  XX.  +  535.  456 ♦         •        |6  00 

Popular  edition.     Two  vols,  in  one,  half  bound,  8°,  pp.  xx.  4-  992    .        $3  50 
Part  I. — The  Developmeiit  of  American  Thought. 
Part  II.— American  Poetry  and  Fiction. 

"  It  is  acute,  intelligent,  and  original,  showing  true  critical  inatinct  and  a  high  otder  of 
Sterary  culture." — Indianapolis  youmal. 

PHILOSOPHY  OF  ENGLISH  LITERATURE. 

A  course  of  lectures  delivered  in  the  Lowell  Institute,  Boston.  By  John 
Bascom,  author  of  "  Problems  of  Philosophy,"   etc.     8°,  pp.  xii  +  318, 

|i  50 
*'  A  knowledge  of  forces,  as  well  as  of  facts,  is  essential  to  our  comprehension  of  any 
phenomena.    .    .    .     It  is  this  which  Mr.  Bascom  helps  us  to  gain." — Chicago  Tribune. 

STUDIES  IN  GERMAN  LITERATURE. 
Edited  by  Marie  Taylor^     Crown  8°,  pp.  viii -1-421       .        .        .        $200 

"  The  work  of  a  painstaking  scholar,  who  can  select  with  rare  discernment  what  should  come 
to  the  foreground  of  attention,  and  who  has  the  power  of  expressing  his  own  views  with  ex- 
ceptional grace." — Literary  World. 

THE  HISTORY  OF  FRENCH  LITERATURE. 
I.  From  its  Origin  to  the  Renaissance. 

II.  From  the  Renaissance  to  the  Close  of  the  Reig^n  of  Louis  XIV. 
III.  From  the  Reign  of  Louis  XIV.  to  that  of  Napoleon  III. 
By  Henry  Van  Laun.     Three  vols,  in  one.     Half  leather,  cloth  sides,  8', 
pp.  342,  392,  467 $3  50 

"  It  is  full  of  keenest  interest  for  every  person  who  knows  or  wishes  to  learn  anything  of 
afrench  literature,  or  of  French  literary  history  and  biography — scarcely  any  book  of  recent 
•origin,  indeed,  is  better  fitted  than  this  to  win  general  favor  with  all  classes  of  persons."— 
N.  y.  Evening  Post. 

A  LITERARY  HISTORY  OF  THE  ENGLISH  PEOPLE. 

From  the  Earliest  Times  to  the  Present  Day.  By  J.  J.  Jusserand,  author  of 
"The  English  Novel  in  the  Time  of  Shakespeare,"  etc.  To  be  com- 
pleted in  three  parts,  each  part  forming  one  volume.     Sold  separately. 

Part  I. — From  the  Origins  to  the  Renaissance.     With  frontispiece. 

8°,  gilt  top,  pp.  xii  -1-  544 $3  50 

In  /'reparation  : 

Part  II. — From  the  Renaissance  to  Pope. 

Part  III. — From  Pope  to  the  Present  Day. 

"  The  book  bears  witness  on  every  page  to  having  been  written  by  one  whose  nund  was 
overflowing  with  information,  and  whose  heart  was  m  abounding  sympathy  with  his  work. 
Mr.  Jusserand  possesses  pre-eminently  the  modem  spirit  of  inquiry,  which  has  for  its  objects 
the  attainment  of  truth  and  a  comprehension  of  the  beginnings  of  tbingsand  of  the  cause*  that 
kave  brought  about  effects." — New  York  Times. 


G.  P.  PUTNAM'S  SONS,  New  York  and  London. 


UniversHy  of  CaNfomla 

SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  LIBRARY  FACILITY 

405  Hilgard  Avenue,  Los  Angeles,  CA  90024-1388 

Return  this  material  to  the  lit>rary 

from  which  it  was  borrowed. 


DEC12'94REC'0 


UC  SOUTHERN  REGIONAL  UBRAHY  FAQLITY 


A    000  702  235    3 


